Those Little Secrets
by Cake1
Summary: When Chad's heart strays from his girlfriend, things turn out unexpectedly when she reacts in a bizarre way, and Chad feels guilty. Chadpay, Chadella, Troypay... PLEASE REVIEW! Rated M for sexual content and language.
1. Troy's Opinion

Chad sat at his desk, admiring the dark-haired beauty in front of him. She was sat at the desk in front of him, and even though he could only see the back of her head, he could visualise every little other part of her in his mind. He rested his chin on his hand and closed his eyes. He imagined himself unbuttoning the shirt she was wearing at that very moment. Pushed up against the desk he was currently leaning on. As her shirt fell to the floor inside his head, he was brought back to earth by that same girl calling his name.

"Chad!" Gabriella whispered loudly.

"Huh?" he muttered, opening his eyes, and after seeing Gabriella staring at him, a look of guilt filled his face.

"Can I borrow a pencil?" She smiled sweetly at him and he grinned and handed her a pencil. She mouthed thank you, and turned back round.

Chad sighed to himself, and went back to the mental image he had of her. He fidgeted in his seat as his daydream progressed. This time, he brought himself back to earth, and tried to think of ways to occupy his mind before he got himself into a little situation. He stared at the chalkboard, and rolled his eyes. Doing some work wasn't the answer. He hated history anyway.

Just then, the bell rang. He got up and ran out of class before anyone had even realised. He met up with Troy and the two went to lunch.

"I'm telling you, man." Chad rolled his eyes and he bit into a fry. "It's getting bad. I'm gonna have to move seats in history class. I just stare at the back of her head and daydream about…. Doing stuff."

"Oh, man." Troy giggled to his friend. "Well, she is hot."

"Yeah. But you know if I get caught…."

"I know. Oh, speak of the devil…."

Troy nodded to behind a cringing Chad, to the little blonde girl strutting up to the table. Chad took a breath, and turned round.

"Hey baby." Chad smiled at her.

"Miss me?"

"Of course I did." Chad put his arm around his girlfriend.

"Do you like my outfit?"

Chad looked the girl up and down. Right now, all of a sudden, Gabriella couldn't be further from his mind. His girlfriend stood in front of him, in a tiny pink dress; a daring amount of cleavage, tight around the waist and hips, and falling not far below, almost exposing the entirety of her long, tanned legs.

"Sharpay, baby, you look so hot." Chad smiled. Sharpay smiled down to where he was still sitting, her hand on the hip next to his face.

"He's right Shar. You look frickin' hot!" Troy grinned.

"Shut up." Chad shot a giggling Troy a glare.

"It's all for you, baby." Sharpay said, ignoring Troy, and bending down to give Chad a loving kiss. Troy made a faux-shock face to Chad, as Sharpay's dress threatened to show some butt as she bent over. He gave Chad a thumbs-up.

"I need to talk to Ryan. Back soon, baby." Sharpay strutted off to where her brother sat, rolling his eyes as she approached.

"I'm gonna kill you." Chad said to Troy, in a casual tone.

"She is hot, though, man."

"Yeah, but dude, c'mon, that's my girlfriend."

"I know, I know."

Chad sighed as he saw Gabriella across the lunch hall, sit down with Taylor. Troy followed his glance and sighed loudly.

"C'mon, man, look at Sharpay, she's way hotter than Gab." Troy said to Chad, who glared at him.

"Did I ask your opinion?"

"LOOK!"

"Troy, just cos a girl wears skimpy clothes, doesn't automatically make her hotter."

"I'm just saying… how do you know Gab's not hiding a hairy chest, or scaly legs, or something?"

Chad got up and left the table.

"You're such an asshole!" He called behind him to Troy.

Troy just grinned to himself.


	2. Sharpay's Not Coming

Chad put his arm around Sharpay and pulled her close. He wasn't paying much attention to the movie they were watching, on account of Sharpay still wearing her tiny dress. From the angle he was at, he could see right down the top of the dress, and the full length of her legs, where they were lay on the back of the seat in front.

The movie theater was near empty. The two of them were sharing this particular auditorium with about 3 other people, another couple and an old lady. All of whom were sitting far away.

Sharpay fidgeted. She couldn't get comfortable. She wriggled away from Chad's grip, leaned her back against the wall on the other side of her, and draped her legs on Chad's lap. She kicked her shoes off, and they fell to the ground.

Chad placed his hand on her thigh. He gently grazed the inside with his thumb. Sharpay looked at him with a mischievous giggle. Chad grinned back at her, moving his hand slowly up her thigh, until it reached just below where her dress stopped. Chad observed Sharpay's toes curling slightly.

Sharpay sat up and moved her face close to Chad's. She looked directly into his eyes, grinned, and met his lips with hers. He squeezed her thigh in appreciation.

As their tongues entwined, Chad got lost in thought. Even though his eyes were closed, he could see the image in front of him. He could see Sharpay's face. He could see down her dress, he could see her long legs.

His mind drifted from his girlfriend, onto the image of Gabriella. He could feel his fingers running through her dark hair, could feel his hand on her jeans, could see her chest hidden in a modest shirt.

He opened his eyes to remind himself of the image of Sharpay. She was close to straddling him. He pulled away from her kiss and took his hand off of her thigh.

"Chad." Sharpay moaned in his ear. "Why are you stopping?"

"Shar, this isn't fair."

"What?"

--

"So I said to her, Shar, this isn't fair, all this teasing and touching when she refuses to have sex."

"Dude, she's still not putting out?"

"I wouldn't mind but she's so full on. She was practically straddling me at the movies."

Troy let out a laugh, and shook his head. He saw Gabriella at her locker down the hall.

"Do you think Gabriella puts out?"

Chad kissed his teeth at Troy. But also looked down the hall at Gabriella. He looked her up and down. She was wearing a long, flowy white skirt and a vest top.

Without warning, Chad took off. He walked off from Troy, leaving his locker wide open.

Troy carried on, mumbling something about girls showing flesh. When he turned round and saw Chad had gone, he was confused. He was even more confused when he noticed Chad had left his backpack in the middle of the floor, which was shortly followed by Zeke running down the hall and consequently tripping over the backpack.

"Dude." Troy shook his head.

"Hey, Gabby." Chad said, as he approached Gabriella's locker.

"Oh, hey Chad! How's it going?"

"It's good, yeah…" he nodded, with a smile. "Hey, you coming to the beach this weekend?"

Troy had arranged a big trip to the beach this Sunday. He invited everyone he considered cool/hot. So, of course, the entire basketball team were invited, including Sharpay (who insisted her brother, Ryan, was also invited), Taylor, Gabriella, the entire cheerleading team… and some other random people Troy had decided to invite. Chad had looked at it as a great opportunity to hopefully see both Sharpay and Gabriella in bikinis. Troy had similar thoughts, although more along the lines of a great opportunity to see as many girls as possible in bikinis.

Gabriella stared into her locker for a couple of seconds.

"Uh, not too sure." She looked up at Chad, playing with a strand of her hair.

"Oh, how come?"

"A lot of homework…." She mumbled.

"Oh… well… I hope you come." Chad flashed her a smile.

"Really?" Gabriella looked up from staring at the floor.

"Really." Chad's smile stuck the same, he wrinkled his nose slightly, and walked off.

"What was that?!" Troy quizzed his friend, as he gave Zeke a cold bottle of water to put on his sore knee.

"What?"

"What did you say to her?!"

"I just asked her if she was coming to the beach."

"What did she say?"

"She's not sure."

--

When Sunday arrived, Chad wasn't too excited. When Troy pulled up to pick him up, he strolled towards the car looking miserable.

"Dude, what's up? Where's Sharpay?"

"She's not coming." Chad sighed. "Her family had to go to Canada this weekend for some business deal. Whatever. I stopped listening after that image of her in a bikini started drifting away…"

"That's rough, man. But at least now you won't get in trouble for staring at Gabriella…."

"Shut up." Chad got in the car and put his seatbelt on. He folded his arms and turned away from Troy.

"Anyway." Chad piped up about ten minutes later. "Gab probably won't even come."

Troy stayed silent.

"I mean," Chad continued, even though no one was listening to him. "She'd probably much rather do homework…" He drifted off when he realised he was wasting his energy speaking out loud.

When they arrived, they were greeted by about 5 classmates. Troy was a bit disheartened at the turnout but was reassured that more people were on the way.

About an hour later, there was about 15 East High students frolicking about. Troy was surrounded by 5 cheerleaders, Jason was burying Zeke in the sand, and Chad was sitting with Martha and Kelsi, who were happily chatting away, Chad however, was staring absent mindedly out to the ocean.

He was brought back to earth when he heard a car pull up into the parking lot a couple of hundred yards away. He sighed when he realised it was Taylor. As he looked away, he saw someone else get out of the car, he took a second glance and stopped breathing. Gabriella was with her.


	3. A Blue Dress

Gabriella walked towards him, wearing a blue dress that fell down to just above her knees. Chad sincerely hoped there was a bikini underneath.

"Hey!" Chad said, trying to sound casual, as the girls approached where he was sat.

Gabriella smiled at him, and sat down with Taylor, next to Martha and Kelsi.

Chad sat there with the 4 girls, feeling quite uncomfortable. This was not how he wanted to spend his day. He tuned out the girly-talk and lay down on his beach towel. He closed his eyes and tried to absorb some sun. He was only down for a couple of minutes when he was rudely awoken by a splash of water on his face.

"What the - TROY!" Chad shouted angrily as he opened his eyes to see Troy running off, laughing.

"Stop being a girl, man, and have some fun!"

Chad groaned, stood up, and brushed the sand off of him. Some of it stuck to him, much to his annoyance. He took his shirt off and shook it vigorously. He put it on a rock to dry and turned around to find Troy.

"Hey." Gabriella said, suddenly standing in front of Chad.

"Hey Gab. I'm glad you decided to come!"

"Me too. Well, as long as those boys leave me alone. No offence, I know they're your friends."

"It's okay, they can be… immature at times." Chad smiled.

"Troy in particular has a habit of making me feel uncomfortable when he's around."

"Hey," Chad said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Stick with me, and I won't let them get you."

Gabriella giggled. She looked down at Chad's exposed chest. She tried not to stare, but could barely help it. The sun was hitting his abs, making her feel a little hot. She tried to regulate her breathing as he continued to grin at her.

"So, um…" Gabriella mused. "No Sharpay today?"

Chad winced as he remembered his girlfriend.

"No." Chad simply stated. Gabriella sensed from the tone, that maybe it was best to drop this subject.

"Oh." Gabriella looked up at the sky and played with her fingers. "Hey, let's sit down. Away from everyone else."

Chad's heart skipped a beat. Gabriella wanted to be alone with him? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Was he going to be able to control himself? He decided to find out.

He picked up his beach towel, and walked along to where Gabriella was laying hers onto the sand, about 20 meters from everyone else.

As he lay his towel down next to hers, he hoped to himself that she didn't mention Sharpay again. He was starting to feel guilty enough that he was here, having a good time, and with another girl, no less. He wanted to forget about Sharpay today.

"So, how's everything?" Gabriella said, almost just for something to say.

"Pretty good." Chad nodded. He searched his brain for something to elaborate on. "Basketball's going pretty well. So… how are things with you?"

"Good. I'm keeping my grades up anyway. How are your grades coming?"

"Not too bad. As and Bs. I'm struggling with Chemistry though." Chad sighed.

"Maybe I could tutor you sometime." Gabriella grinned, as she reached over and moved a curl from Chad's face.

Chad just grinned back, with a slight nod. As Gabriella scratched her arm, his eyes were once again drawn to her blue dress.

"You gonna swim?" Chad asked, knowing the answer he desired.

"I might. Are you?"

Chad grinned.

"I will if you will."

Gabriella raised her eyebrows, and looked thoughtful. She grinned and nodded.

"Yeah."

Chad smiled, and stood up. He couldn't help but stare, as Gabriella gripped the hem of her dress, pulled it up over her body, and off over her head. He jolted himself back to reality before Gabriella noticed his staring.

"Let's go." Chad smiled and held his hand out.

Gabriella hesitated. She looked at his outstretched hand, and wondered what to do.

Realising she couldn't hesitate for too long, as Chad was expecting a reaction, she swallowed her reservations and placed her hand in his.

As the two of them walked towards the water, Gabriella felt uneasy. She was holding Chad's hand. Sharpay's boyfriend. She knew Sharpay, and was sure she wouldn't be very happy if she knew…

She soon felt water splashing her feet and, almost before she noticed his hand had left hers, Chad was frolicking in the water. She giggled and waded in. When she was far enough in that her feet were no longer touching the sand below, she stopped, and turned back around to face the beach.

The rest of the gang were running around, paddling, sunbathing… doing anything but watching her. She felt a little relief, and thought to herself that she was safe, for now.

But as she turned around, she saw a grinning Chad gliding through the water towards her.

I don't want to steal him from Sharpay, she thought to herself, but I do like him. She tried to convince herself that all she wanted from today was a bit of harmless fun. If Sharpay were here, she may not have liked it, but if she didn't find out, what's the harm?

On the one hand, Gabriella was having a hard time convincing herself to let go and have fun, but on the other hand, she found herself reaching out for Chad's hand under the water.


	4. A lesson In Chemistry

It took a couple of seconds for Gabriella's hands to find Chad's in the water. But as her fingertips met hers, and she laced her fingers into his, she almost felt herself jump backwards as what scarily felt like a bolt of electricity flew through her veins. She took a breath, as most of the electricity shot straight to her heart, making it pound more than ever. She struggled still to catch her breath and feelings flowed through to every part of her, giving her the overpowering desire to wrap her legs around Chad's waist.

She fought this desire, however, because she knew how terribly inappropriate it would have been. She smiled, as she scanned Chad's face for some kind of reaction. He hadn't pulled his hands away anyway.

Chad's mind was going though quite a similar struggle. He was trying hard to not make it sound like his breathing was irregular but it was proving difficult. He almost couldn't believe what was happening. Did Gabriella like him? He couldn't be the only one who just felt the electricity between them. And she was holding his hands. She didn't seem like the type to steal someone's boyfriend, and anyway, he wasn't the type of guy to cheat on his girlfriend. Harmless fun, this was, completely harmless. Even if it was extremely difficult to keep his hands from touching her.

"I'm glad I came." Gabriella said in a slight whisper, barely realising she'd said anything.

"I'm glad too." Chad smiled back at her.

--

"I barely even saw you." Troy said to Chad over lunch. "You were off with Gabriella, weren't you?"

Chad looked up at Troy, then back down to his burger.

"Yeah, I was hanging out with her."

"Dude." Troy laughed to himself. "What did you do to her?"

"Shut up, Troy." Chad rolled his eyes moodily, then paused before laughing. "Nothing happened. Just had a bit of harmless fun."

"mmhmm." Troy shook his head at Chad. "I bet Sharpay would be less than pleased to find out you spent the whole day with Miss Einstein-ette."

"Well unless someone tells her," Chad said, glaring at Troy. "There's no reason for her to find out."

As if on cue, Chad jumped at a voice calling his name.

"Chad!!"

He turned round to see Sharpay grinning and walking towards him. He got up to greet her.

"Hey baby." Chad smiled, and kissed her on the cheek.

"Sorry about yesterday, baby. I hope it didn't ruin your day too much."

Troy faked choking on his burger. He mumbled an apology when the couple both turned and glared at him, Sharpay with a little added confusion.

"It wasn't too bad." Chad smiled, and slipped his hand into hers.

As they both sat down with Troy, Chad noticed a couple of tables away, Gabriella sitting down for lunch with Taylor. She was smiling like there was no tomorrow.

She looked over at Chad, and her smiled dropped from her face, looking from him to Sharpay. Chad smiled at her, and she forced a smile back.

Chad couldn't help, for the next ten minutes, glancing over at Gabriella every now and then. She kept whispering to Taylor, as girls do. But when Taylor looked directly at him, he felt a little uncomfortable. And when the bell rang, and he remembered he had History next, he wasn't sure whether he felt the same excited feeling he usually did, or whether he felt awkward and annoyed.

When he arrived at the classroom, and took his usual seat, he couldn't stop fidgeting. He avoided the gaze of Gabriella when she walked in, and took her seat in front of him.

"Hey." she grinned at him.

"Hi." he mumbled, scratching his arm, still avoiding her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

Chad looked up, and all negative feelings drifted away in a second. She looked more beautiful than ever, and as she smiled, all the feelings from the previous day came flooding back to him.

"Yeah!" she grinned. "Um… are you free after school? I was wondering… about… taking you up on your offer for a bit of tutoring."

"Yeah, sure." she nodded.

"I'll pay you of course."

"Oh, no need. We're friends, right? Friends… help each other out."

She giggled, and turned back round. As Chad scratched his head and wondered what he was doing, she turned back around to face him.

"Here's my address." She said, handing him a piece of paper. "How's around 5?"

"That's good."

"See you then." She blinked and grinned at him, before turning round to the front.

--

Chad pulled up outside Gabriella's house. He switched the car engine off, and checked himself in the rear-view mirror. He frowned as he observed his hair, which seemed to have a mind of it's own today.

As far as he was concerned… he was doing nothing wrong. Sharpay knew he was here and why. However… he didn't really believe that. Although it was what he was trying to convince himself of. He knew, deep down, it was a bad idea coming here today. But he didn't care. He wanted to. He shook his head violently to bring him to his senses. He left the car and walked up to Gabriella's front door.

He raised his hand to the knocker, but before he'd even touched it, the door opened.

"Hey!" Gabriella grinned. "Come in."

Chad walked through the door, and turned to face Gabriella.

He then realised she had changed her clothes since school. Instead of a t shirt and jeans, she was now wearing a little white dress.

"Ah, you changed." He said, trying to sound casual.

"I was a bit hot in jeans. It was cold when I woke up at 6 for school."

"Yeah." Chad let out a slight giggle.

Gabriella outstretched her hand towards him. He was starting to see a trend in their relationship. It was some kind of sordid hand-holding affair. It was electrifying enough, without being too wrong.

He took her hand, and she led him up the stairs, and into her room. As he stepped in, he looked around.

"Oh my gosh, Gab. You're secretly a girlie girl!"

Chad was expecting a studious, modest room. But he was met with a cosy, slightly OTT room covered in pink and purple décor.

"It was like this when we moved in. Well, the walls. I thought it was sort of cute."

"It is. In a 9 year old sort of way."

"Shut up!" Gabriella giggled. She removed her hands from his long enough to swat him gently on the arm. She placed her hand back in his.

"We should get started." She smiled, as their laughter died down.

--

A little while later, Gabriella was getting frustrated. Chad didn't really have a head for chemistry. She was making progress, just very little.

"I just don't get it!" Chad whined.

"Let's take a break." Gabriella exhaled, stopping herself from getting irritated with Chad.

Chad nodded, and took his sneakers off. He pulled his legs up onto Gabriella's bed and crossed them. Gabriella left her desk and sat the same way, opposite him.

"Chad…" She started, with an uneasy feeling. "You and Sharpay… how did you get together? She doesn't really seem your type.

Chad frowned to himself at the mention of his girlfriend.

"We were at a wildcat party that Troy's Dad held one night. Zeke suggested we played Spin The Bottle. She spun, it landed on me…" Chad was remembering as he spoke. "A little while after we kissed, she came up to me, all flirtatious, telling me how fun it was. Anyway…"

"One thing led to another?" Gabriella laughed.

"Yeah, something like that. What can I say, these lips enticed her in."

Gabriella laughed, and shook her head. She glanced at his lips. They were parted in a wide grin, baring Chad's white teeth. He looked up to Chad's eyes, which were staring into hers. She looked back down at his lips to see him licking them.

She felt her own lips tremble involuntarily. She had to try so hard to give in and do the thing she really wanted to do. She inhaled a deep breath.

Chad had a similar feeling. And most of all, he was feeling the strain of knowing that the ball was entirely in his court. If anything was going to happen, it was up to him to make the first move. He was the one with the girlfriend. Gabriella would never expect him to cheat.

As he looked into her eyes, his heart skipped a beat. It was then he decided he was sure she felt the same. She kept his gaze, and she reached out and put her hand on his.

"Chad." She whispered.


	5. Connection

Chad was still staring into her eyes, slowly melting as her touch made him weak. Her whisper of his name ran through his ears like a river. He tried to jerk himself back into reality. It wasn't working.

Suddenly Gabriella blinked hard, and removed her hand from his. She leapt off her bed and approached her desk, and opened a Chemistry book.

Chad was confused to what was going on. He turned round and looked at Gabriella. Her face was buried in the book, but he could see from the side of the book that her cheeks were bright red. She glanced over at him, but quickly looked away when she realised Chad was looking at her.

"Gab…"

"I uh… you… wanna carry on? With the lesson? Or call it a night?"

Neither, he thought to himself.

"Let's, uh…" Chad paused, then sighed. "Let's call it a night."

--

As Chad smiled at Sharpay, he couldn't help but think of Gabriella. She liked him, but was clearly uncomfortable with her feelings. But then, so was he. He didn't know what he wanted. Was he just frustrated because Sharpay wouldn't sleep with him? Did he want to end things with Sharpay to be with Gabriella? Or did he want to have his cake and eat it too? His mind was a big ocean of confusion and he couldn't pick out any plausible answer.

Chad and Sharpay were at Chad's house, watching a movie whilst his parents were out. Sharpay's legs were draped over Chad's lap, and Chad had his hand on her thigh. Stroking slightly with his thumb, his mind wandered onto Gabriella's legs. He remembered how they looked with that little white dress exposing them. He started to imagine it was those legs he was currently touching. He fidgeted uncomfortably on his couch, and tried to get the image out of his mind of that dress slipping off.

He shook his head at himself. This was getting out of hand and it was getting dangerous.

"Baby, are you okay?" Sharpay grinned at him.

"Yeah." Chad nodded. "I'm great."

Sharpay sat up and lay her head on his shoulder.

"I'm glad." She cooed, as she placed her hand on the inside of his thigh. She started squeezing it, and Chad gave her a slightly dirty look.

"Sharpay…." he whined, with a slight groan. "we've talked about this!"

"I can't help it baby." She giggled, and she ran her hand up his thigh, and stopped right at the top. He looked at her, and shook his head. With a mischievous grin on her face, she ran her finger just shy of the very place he was eager for her to avoid.

"Sharpay!!"

She silenced him by placing her lips on his. He groaned with weakness, as she found the button of his jeans.

"Sharpay…" He repeated once again, this time with less protest. She fiddled with the button, and it came undone.

"Shar….." Chad trailed off from repeating her name for the fourth time. She unzipped his jeans. He sighed as he succumbed to her.

--

Chad stared ahead of him as Sharpay lay asleep on his chest. He glanced down and bit his lip. As she stirred, he frowned.

"Hey baby." She opened her eyes, and smiled up at him.

"Hey." He whispered.

She sat up, and draped herself across his shoulders. She twiddled his hair around her fingers.

"Baby?" Sharpay questioned to Chad. He looked at her out the corner of his eye.

"Hm?"

"…We'll do it someday. I promise."

Chad looked at Sharpay and smiled.

"Shar, please. There's no rush. And last night was amazing without going there."

"I guess you're right."

Chad kissed Sharpay on the forehead and squeezed her tight.

--

There he was again. In history class, staring at the back of Gabriella's head. He frowned awkwardly as he thought through the situation he was getting himself into. And how he might get himself out of it. He was staring straight at the back of Gabriella's head, when it turned round and by default, he was looking straight into her eyes.

"Chad, let's have another lesson tonight." She grinned. Chad nodded eagerly. Once she'd turned back round, he shook his head at himself. He was too weak to resist spending time with her, even though he knew he was getting more and more pent up with feelings for her.

--

After school, Chad was talking to Troy when Gabriella started walking towards him from across the hall.

"Don't look now Chad, but your bit on the side's coming over."

"Shut up, Troy. You're asking for a smack in the face."

Chad smiled at the approaching Gabriella.

"You wanna start now, instead of waiting until later?"

"Sure." Chad nodded. "I'll drive us to your house?"

"Sure."

"Let's go." Chad grinned as he walked off with Gabriella. He looked back at Troy, and gave him a dirty look at the foul gestures he was making.

--

Gabriella buckled herself up in Chad's car. She quickly fixed her hair as Chad climbed into the car. She smiled at him as he buckled himself up.

"Gab, I only know how to get to your house via mine. Is there a quicker route?"

"Just go straight and I'll direct you."

"Cool." Chad smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Chad…" Gabriella started. She hesitated. "…How are things?"

"They're… good. And you?"

Gabriella didn't reply. As sick as it was, she was hoping for him to be having trouble with Sharpay. She felt so wrong; Chad was her friend and she shouldn't be wishing bad on him. But….. Her feelings were a little selfish. It was getting difficult to resist her urges.

When they finally arrived at her house, she bravely took his hand, and took him up to her room.

Here she was again, she thought to herself. In her room with Chad. A situation that, even though she really didn't want to be in it, she revelled in it and couldn't resist.

As they worked through Chad's homework together, Gabriella couldn't help but admire that Chad was finally starting to get it. He was working hard and really putting the effort in. Why he had decided to finally put the effort in now, once she had started tutoring him…. She didn't dare to even wonder.

"You're doing really great, Chad." She smiled at him.

"Thanks Gab! You're a great tutor."

Gabriella felt herself blush, and she looked at the floor. She turned away from Chad to put her books away on the shelf, then joined him on her bed.

"We should all go to the beach again soon. It was fun!" Gabriella smiled at Chad as he looked up.

"Yeah, awesome idea! I'll run it past Troy."

"Maybe Sharpay will get to come this time." Gabriella coolly said, playing with a stuffed giraffe but looking at Chad out the corner of her eye. He flinched, and she raised her eyebrows to herself.

"Yeah, hopefully." Chad tried to say convincingly, but failed.

Silence fell between the two. They looked up, and their eyes met.

For the first time, they felt a mutual connection; either one of them knew what the other was feeling. Gabriella was not just hopelessly crushing on another girl's boyfriend. Chad was not just letting his hormones cause his eyes to stray. This was the real deal, and both of them knew for sure their feelings were mutual.

--

"I just don't know what to do."

"You know what to do. Nothing."

"But….. Yeah you're right." Gabriella looked at Taylor, and rolled her eyes.

"Be careful." Taylor warned her.

"Yeah okay, whatever." Gabriella folded her arms. Taylor let out a little laugh.

"Don't get stroppy now!"

"Forget it, listen… we're arranging another trip to the beach, you wanna come?"

"When is it?"

"Next Sunday."

"Oh, that's the day after Faye's house party… but sure, I'll come."

"Cool."

--

School felt a little awkward when Gabriella and Chad bumped into each other. Which incidentally, was a lot, since them and their friends were all starting to become a bit of a group.

Gabriella felt quite uncomfortable at lunch, Taylor wanted to sit with Troy and Chad, and their friends, because she was starting to take a bit of an interest in Zeke. So while she was flirting, Gabriella was stuck next to - who else - Sharpay.

"Nice skirt, Sharpay." Gabriella complimented, just for something to say.

"Oh thanks, Gabs!" Sharpay smiled sweetly. "You can borrow it sometime if you want."

"Thanks." Gabriella smiled and nodded, thinking to herself how she would never be seen dead in such a skirt.

Taylor suddenly appeared behind Gabriella, and started whispering in her ear.

"Nice boyfriend, Sharpay. Thanks Gabs, you can borrow him anytime you want… thanks Sharpay, but I already do…"

"Shut up!" Gabriella said, a little loud. She laughed, with a slight blush, when she realised everyone was staring at her.

"So anyway," Troy said, glaring at Gabriella. "This Sunday, we hit the beach again! But see y'all at Faye's party the night before, right?"

There was a murmur of agreement amongst the small crowd. Gabriella was staring at Chad's hand, which was laced with Sharpay's. Chad caught her eye, and managed to give her a slight sympathetic look without even changing his expression.


	6. Apprehension

That week, Gabriella arranged no more lessons. Gabriella decided to try and take Taylor's advice seriously. However, it all went down the drain when Chad asked Gabriella for a lesson on Saturday, and she agreed.

Chad arrived at Gabriella's at 4pm, enough time for a lesson before they both got ready to go to Faye's party. This way, actually, Gabriella thought, it would be easier to get out the house to go to the party. She could say she was going out with Chad. None of the wildcats had been given permission by their parents to go to the party, which most of them just saw as a fun challenge. Gabriella was apprehensive, but didn't want to seem a party-pooper.

At around 6pm, Chad had understood all that Gabriella was teaching him, and thought to himself that he probably didn't need any more tutoring.

"So another lesson next week?" Gabriella asked him.

"Sure." he replied, smiling at her. She smiled back, but awkwardly.

"So, uh…" Chad cleared his throat. "I better go home and get ready for this party."

"Yeah." Gabriella said, looking at the floor.

"You want me to swing by in a while and pick you up?"

Gabriella looked at Chad. He was a nice guy, and not necessarily a typical teenager. She felt completely safe with him, the only problem about spending time with him was her not feeling safe with herself, and not trusting herself with him.

"I, um… I'm not sure if I wanna go." Gabriella murmured. Chad raised his eyebrows.

"Really, why?"

"I don't wanna lie to my Mom. Anyway, I wanna have a good time at the beach tomorrow, I don't wanna feel crappy, like everyone else will."

"Good point." Chad said as he sat on her bed. "But you should come. Stick around with me, I wasn't even gonna go for very long."

Gabriella struggled slightly with the decision. She finally nodded.

--

At 7.30, Chad called Gabriella to let her know he was on his way to pick her up. He also informed her that Sharpay had called him and said she was there already, and the party was already in full swing. Gabriella grew even more nervous and apprehensive.

And by 8.10, they were pulling into Faye's street. It was a very long street, and they were at the wrong end, but they could hear the music already. Gabriella's stomach twisted violently into knots. She clenched her stomach.

"Are you okay?" Chad asked her, slightly concerned.

"Just a little nervous." Gabriella groaned. "I'm not a fan of big parties."

"Oh!" Chad said, and pulled over. "So you really didn't wanna go."

Gabriella shrugged.

"I don't mind. As you said, I won't stay long. But I've gotta make an appearance."

"Why have you got to?"

"I… dunno. What will people think if I don't?"

"Who cares! Gab, you don't have to do anything you don't want to, just because of what people may or may not think of you."

Gabriella stared at her feet.

"C'mon. Let's go get a burger or something. Or see a movie?"

"Chad! I can't stop you from going. I'll be fine, I promise. I'll stay for maybe, an hour?"

Chad raised his eyebrows, and she nodded desperately.

"Please Chad," She sighed. "I don't wanna ruin anyone's night."

"You won't be ruining--" Chad stopped when he saw Gabriella's face, urging him to take her to the party, but still full of nervousness.

"Only if you're sure." Chad said, showing her he was completely unconvinced. He pulled out from the kerb and drove a minute down the road, and pulled up in front of Faye's house.

It certainly was a sight to see. It was only 8.15, and already the party was, most definitely, in full swing. There was a smashed window, with a lamp laying on the grass way below it. One kid at the side of the house was vomiting, and against the front of the house, a couple were making out. While they were watching, a girl ran out of the house crying, with her boyfriend running after her, both very clearly drunk and hysterical.

"You still sure you wanna go in?" Chad said, with a kind of 'told you so' tone of voice, but also exposing his own apprehension.

"Um…. Yes." Gabriella whimpered. Chad laughed at her and shook his head.

"Movies?"

Gabriella looked at him, and smiled. As if she needed him being so incredibly lovely. It didn't help in the least. But she loved the feeling she was filled with. She felt cared for. She nodded at him.

"But won't people be expecting you? Especially--" Gabriella looked at him, and hesitated. "Especially… Sharpay. And Troy!" she added quickly.

"I'll tell them you felt sick so I took you home, and stayed to look after you 'cos your Mom was out."

Gabriella smiled, once again.

"Chad, thank you. You're an amazing friend."

"I know." he grinned at her and she hit him playfully.

--

Nothing was really on at the movies. The two of them finally decided to see some animated movie about horses.

They shared popcorn and a huge drink. The movie wasn't exactly exciting, but they both tried to concentrate. They both failed.

Chad felt completely uncomfortable. All he wanted to do was entwine his and Gabriella's arms and cuddle up to her. But he couldn't.

Or could he? He didn't want to ruin what he already had with her, and he didn't want to freak her out, but cuddling up to her could just be a friendly thing. So maybe, just maybe he'd get away with it.

He noticed her hand was on the armrest between the two of them. He smirked to himself, and took a breath. He put his hand on hers.

She looked up at him, and smiled. She turned her hand over, and connected her fingers with his. Chad let his breath go. Gabriella pulled his hand onto her leg, and placed her head on his shoulder.

Chad smiled to himself. Things were progressing. His smile dropped from his face when he realised that this was actually far from being a good thing. But as much as he tried he couldn't focus on the image of Sharpay in his mind. He rested his head on top of Gabriella's and continued to watch the movie.

--

"So……" Gabriella smiled at Chad. "See you tomorrow?"

"Sure. I'll pick you up at ten?"

"Ten sounds great." Gabriella unbuckled her seatbelt and paused before she opened the door. "Chad… thanks for everything tonight. You're an awesome friend."

Chad smiled at her.

"No problem."

--

"What?! Everybody?"

"Pretty much, man. The cops turned up and broke up the party. They got everybody's parents involved. I'm in deep trouble. You're lucky you didn't come."

"Troy man, sorry. The weather is awesome this morning, I can't believe the trip is off."

"Maybe you and Gabriella can go alone. How romantic, ha ha!"

"Shut up."

"See you later, man. I'm going back to bed, my head is killing."

"Bye. Enjoy being grounded."

Chad hung his phone up, and sighed to try and relieve the disappointment he was feeling. Everybody was grounded. The trip was off.

He dialled Gabriella's number and put the phone to his ear. It went straight to voicemail. He frowned and looked at the clock. He thought it best to just go to her house as planned.

When he arrived, a happy looking Gabriella answered the door. She was dressed in yellow, once again showing off her legs.

"You look nice." Chad said without thinking. "Um… but I have bad news."

"What?!"

"The cops broke up the party last night and… everybody's grounded."

"Everybody?!"

"Everybody."

"Wow that sucks." Gabriella looked disappointed. Chad frowned.

"Well I mean…. we can still go if you want. Just… us two?"

Gabriella bit her lip. She wanted to. She knew that very well. But was it a wise idea? Probably not.

"Yeah, sure."

"Awesome."


	7. A White Bikini

When they arrived, the beach was busy. However, they found a spot on the other side of a wall of rocks, with few people. They settled themselves down there.

"A lazy day…" Chad yawned as he lay his beach towel down. "I wanna just lay in the sun all day."

Gabriella smiled, and tried not to stare as Chad took his shirt off. She sat down on her own beach towel, then stood back up, deciding to take her dress off. She pulled the yellow dress over her head, showing her small white bikini. Chad couldn't conceal his inability not to stare.

"White suits you."

Gabriella blushed, and giggled. She folded her dress neatly and put it beside her beach towel. She suddenly ran towards the water.

"You coming?!" She called behind her. Chad laughed to himself and got up. He chased Gabriella all the way to the ocean. He caught up to her just as they hit the water, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down into the water.

"I got you!" He giggled, through the water and the hair that was sticking to his face, both his and hers. She pulled her hair together and tied it back.

Chad was struggling to find his feet, and pull his own hair out of his eyes. He could vaguely see through his hair Gabriella stand up, then shriek, and run into deeper water.

He stood up, hair out of his face, and swam out to where she was paddling.

"What's the matter?"

"Oh…nothing."

"What?!"

"Nothing!"

Gabriella swam off, a little closer to the beach, but still completely immersed up to her neck.

"Gab, what's the matter?"

Gabriella looked at him. He looked slightly concerned. She sighed.

"It's kinda embarrassing."

"Aw, Gab, you can tell me."

"…Okay. Well… this bikini is new, I've never worn it before."

"Okay…" Chad said, confused.

Gabriella looked into his eyes. She felt warm inside at his concern. She looked at his wet hair, and smiled to herself. He looked so cute.

She stood up and showed her body up to her bellybutton, below which was still immersed.

Chad looked down at her bikini top. As soon as he saw what she was embarrassed about, he looked straight back up at her face.

"I see." Chad smiled at her. "Swim to shore, I'll run back and grab your towel. No one will see."

Gabriella nodded, and folded her arms across her chest. Her bikini top had become see-through when wet.

An hour later, Gabriella was sunbathing in her yellow dress. She felt happy, except that flies kept attacking her, thinking she was a flower.

"Argh!" She growled, and she jumped to her feet. She pulled her dress over her head and threw it on the ground. She looked down - her bikini was dry, and no longer see-through.

She lay back down on her beach towel, and propped herself up with her elbows. She looked out to Chad in the water. When he caught her watching him, he waded back to shore.

"Water's overrated." He simply stated as he sat down on his towel.

"Chad, you can stay out there. I don't need your sympathy!" Gabriella giggled.

"It's no fun alone!"

Gabriella smiled to him, and shook her head.

"I guess it wouldn't be."

"I'm indifferent. I'll stay on the sand."

Gabriella looked at him. And got to her feet.

"Come on."

"What?"

"Let's go for a swim!"

"What about your…. Bikini?"

"As if it matters." And with that, she ran off. Chad shrugged to himself and followed her.

"Aw, it's nice and cool in here." Gabriella sighed. "Nice after being in the sun."

Chad laughed. He looked at Gabriella confused. He was seeing a slightly different side to her today. Putting her embarrassment and insecurities aside and letting loose, having fun.

He swam out further and she joined him.

"I'm glad we came after all. It's nice to get out and clear my head a bit. Let everything go."

"Yeah. I'm glad we came too." Chad smiled at Gabriella.

Gabriella started to swim closer to the shore, and Chad followed.

"We should come more often. Maybe next time, the others can actually join us."

Chad nodded, and laughed. Gabriella stopped swimming and turned to Chad.

"Chad, you're a special guy." Gabriella smiled. She stood to her feet.

Chad fixated his gaze at Gabriella's face. He didn't dare glance down to her chest. Gabriella slightly rolled her eyes, knowing full well what he was trying to avoid doing.

"Thanks." He smiled, as she walked through the water a couple of steps towards him.

He could feel her breath on his face. She smiled, and threw her arms around his neck. Chad felt weak at the knees, particularly when she pressed her chest against his.

"Gab…" he whispered in her ear. "You're special too."

As she pulled away slowly, her mind was fuzzy and muddled. She couldn't think straight.

Momentarily, she looked into his eyes, and without a thought, pressed her lips against his. As soon as she did it, she knew it was wrong. She knew that before she did it. But she didn't stop.

Chad couldn't believe what was happening. He responded to Gabriella, placing his hands either side of her face as he lovingly kissed her back. Fireworks were going off all over his body. All he could think about was how long he'd been waiting to do what he was doing. However, Gabriella was first to pull away.

"Uh…" she said, and started to scurry towards the shore. Chad followed after her.

"Gab…"

"Chad…" she sighed, slowing down.

Chad took her hand and spun her back round to face him.

"Chad…" she repeated. "We… can't!"

"Why?" Chad asked, realising exactly why as soon as the word left his mouth. "Sorry, stupid question."

"Chad I….. I really like you." Gabriella murmured out, letting out a breath. She felt relieved to finally say it, but she wasn't finished. "But Sharpay doesn't deserve this."

"You're right." Chad said, and let go of her hand.


	8. Confusion

On the way home, Chad and Gabriella hardly spoke. Neither of them could find the words to speak to the other. Nothing but feelings of awkwardness and confusion filled the air.

"Uh…" Chad started. His desire to find something to say slipped away, and silence filled the air once again.

Chad felt completely lousy. He couldn't believe what had happened. He had been dreaming about something like this happening for a long time. But he never thought it would actually happen.

He felt guilty. Poor Sharpay, Gabriella was right - Sharpay didn't deserve to be cheated on.

"I'm sorry." Chad said, almost involuntarily.

"For what?" Gabriella asked.

"Uh…for.. What happened…"

"Chad…" She paused and looked down at her feet. "I… kissed you. It's my fault."

"No, I…." Chad sighed. "I… guess we were both wrong."

Silence filled the air once again. Chad pulled into Gabriella's driveway and stopped. He switched off the ignition.

"Well…. See ya…" Chad faked a smile.

"Chad… I really like you." Gabriella repeated for the second time that day. "And… you know… if circumstances were different…"

"You mean…" Chad swallowed and took a breath. "If I wasn't with Sharpay."

"Basically."

Chad sighed. He liked Gabriella, and wanted her. Bad. Was breaking up with Sharpay really an option? Of course not. He scolded himself inside his mind for even considering the thought.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow." Gabriella whispered, and climbed out of the car.

--

Chad plodded into school the next morning. He really didn't want to be there. He was dreading seeing Sharpay, and Gabriella, and even Troy. He had to think up a story to tell him. Should he tell him that him and Gabriella went to the beach alone? Should he say they called it off? He was frantically scanning his brain for a plausible story that would prompt the least amount of questions, when he ran out of time.

"Chad, man. How's it going?" A voice from behind him said as he approached his locker.

"Troy. Mommy let you out, I see."

"Shut up. Man, stuck in my lame room all day, with the sun glaring through my window… I was pissed. No sun, no sand, no sea, no half naked girls."

Chad laughed and rolled his eyes.

"So, I guess you might as well have been grounded too."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, unless you went to the beach alone."

"Oh, uh…" Chad sighed and rolled his eyes. "I went with Gabriella. She didn't go to the party."

"Ohhh!" Troy taunted in a high pitched voice. "Now I see."

"Don't start."

"What happened? Did you finally get some?"

"Troy, shut up. Nothing happened. We had a fun day, two FRIENDS."

"Okay." Troy said, showing how unconvinced he was.

Chad opened his locker, and rooted around in it for some books. He jumped when he felt arms slip around his waist. For a split second, he thought it was Troy. Then he hoped it was Gabriella. But he soon realised both of these possiblities were completely stupid.

"Hey baby." he said, as he felt a head on his shoulder.

"I missed you baby." Sharpay growled in Chad's ear. "I wanted you so bad last night… I was so close to climbing out my window and running to your house."

Chad laughed.

"I wish you had."

"Well, my parents might as well have had armed guards surrounding the house. Against my urges, I thought it best to obey them."

Chad turned around and closed his locker.

"So, um… when are you grounded until?"

"I wasn't grounded in so many words… It was more… they said I couldn't go out."

Chad looked confused. Sharpay giggled at him.

"So there's none of this 'come straight home from school' crap. If I had some kind of… extra-curricular activity to do at school, they couldn't object to that." Sharpay grinned naughtily at her boyfriend.

"AT school, huh?" Chad grinned back and ran his hands down Sharpay's back. He leaned down and kissed her.

"Gosh, you guys." A male voice said. "It's 8.30am!"

"Shut up Ryan!" Sharpay commanded as her twin brother walked on past, rolling his eyes.

The couple giggled, looking into each other's eyes. Chad looked away when he saw out the corner of his eye, a small brunette slowly walking past, staring at him.

As he looked at Gabriella, their eyes locked and stayed locked for about a second. Chad blinked, and nodded at her. She smiled and gave a slight wave.

Chad looked back down at Sharpay. Lucky for him, she wasn't paying any attention. She was too busy frowning at her split ends.

--

When the school bell rang, signifying the end of the day, Chad breathed a sigh of relief. This horrible day was over. However, his relief was short-lived as he saw Gabriella walking towards him.

"Hey Chad…" she said, awkwardly. "You want a session tonight? I mean… tutoring session." She said, blushing.

"Um… I've kinda got plans. With Sharpay."

"Oh, well, that's cool…" Gabriella said, trying to sound casual and cool. "But, oh! I thought she was grounded?!"

"She's overruling her parents with a technicality. Basically - she'll worm her way out of trouble."

"Oh. Well… see you tomorrow, Chad." Gabriella smiled, and walked off sulkily.

"Bye Gabs." Chad sighed.

"Hey baby." Sharpay said, walking up behind him. "Some teacher wants to see you before you go. I can't remember her name… that blonde one… anyway she's in room 34b. And hurry back baby." Sharpay grinned.

Chad was confused. Where was 34b? He'd never been there so he was sure he'd not been taught by anyone in that classroom. After about 5 minutes of walking round and round, he finally found a door marked 34b.

He opened the door to find darkness. His mind started to work out what was going on - but not quick enough. A hand grabbed him by the collar and dragged him inside. He heard a lock turning, before feeling two fingers slip under his belt buckle.

"You certainly took your time." A familiar feminine voice spoke. "Miss Evans has been waiting."

Chad smiled.

"Sharpay you're crazy. It's awesome."

Sharpay silenced him with a kiss. She pulled him towards her by his belt buckle. She deepened her kiss and ran her hands over his shirt, letting out a slight whimper as she felt his toned chest with her fingertips. When she reached the bottom of his shirt, she grabbed hold of it and pulled it up over his head.

"Shar…" Chad let out a moan.

As things were getting more and more heated, thoughts started racing through Chad's mind. Sharpay was starting to get to him. He didn't understand what was going through her head. She kept pushing him to the edge and going cold on him at the last minute. It wasn't that he was mad she wouldn't have sex with him, but she didn't seem to know what she wanted and he felt messed about.

"Shar…" Chad sighed, with a more serious voice. He pushed her off him.

"What is it, baby?" Sharpay panted, out of breath and confused.

"I know you're not gonna see this through. Stop teasing!"

"But baby…"

"Shar… I'm gonna go home. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sharpay finally caught her breath and unlocked the door for him. She opened the door.

"Uh…. Chad…"

"Bye Sharpay."

"Chad!… You, uh… might wanna sort little Chad out first." Sharpay pointed a slender finger and Chad's crotch. Chad blushed, picked his backpack off of the floor and held it in front of his crotch and made off towards the nearest men's room.

He sighed as he approached the corner, round which was the men's room. He was relieved he'd bumped into no one. As he turned the corner, his heart stopped as he saw someone stood in front of him. A girl. Gabriella.

"Chad! I, uh…." Gabriella held her chest and exhaled. "You scared me."

"Sorry, Gab." Chad smiled, trying to look casual. "Um… what are you still doing here?"

"I had to see Mr. Henson about my tutoring. I'm going home now. What are you still doing here?"

"Um…" Chad did not want to tell her the truth. "Sharpay wanted me to help her clean out her locker. But we're finished now. In fact, I'm still up for that lesson, if you are…"

"Sure."

"I just need to go to the bathroom." Chad said, trying not to blush again. "Then I need to get something from my locker. I'll meet you at your house? Fifteen minutes?"

Gabriella nodded and smiled. She waved and went off towards the car park.


	9. Break

If anyone was having trouble with Chap 6, it's now working! As are other "page cannot be displayed" errors as far as I can see! Please keep reviewing guys, if you haven't reviewed, please drop in and let me know what you think!

--

Chad shook his head at himself as he left the bathroom and made his way towards his car. He was so confused, more confused than he'd ever been in his life. He had absolutely no idea what to do and what was next for him. Either way, he got in his car and made his way towards Gabriella's house.

"Hey!" Gabriella smiled as she opened the door to Chad.

"Hi Gab." Chad smiled slightly and followed her in.

"So," Gabriella said as she led Chad into her room. "How come you're not hanging out with-" She tried not to choke on her words - "With… Sharpay?"

"She, um…" Chad scanned his brain for a suitable answer, but then gave up. "I need a bit of time away from her."

"Did you guys fall out?"

"Uhm…" Chad didn't even know. "I'm not sure. I guess you could say that. We're not seeing eye to eye on… certain matters."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Maybe later." Chad smiled at her. He would feel kind of weird telling her what was going on between him and Sharpay. Plus, he was slightly worried that she may think he was some kind of horny, desperate for sex kinda guy.

Chad didn't really learn anything that day. Not a whole lot of tutoring went on, the pair of them chatted most of the evening away. Finally, at just gone 8pm, Gabriella brought up Sharpay again.

"I mean, you and Sharpay… you're perfect together." Gabriella didn't mean what she said. Sharpay was better suited to someone like Troy. But Gabriella wanted to see what Chad said in response and she also hoped to find out why they fell out.

"Do you think so?" Chad asked casually. "I think we're quite an unusual pairing."

"I guess…" Gabriella searched her brain for something else to say. Chad glanced at her.

"We, uh…" Chad looked away. He thought about how to best put what had happened. "We had a disagreement of sorts. About stuff, like…. Sex."

"Oh…" Gabriella nodded and looked at her feet. She thought to herself that she didn't know they were having sex. Not that she'd thought about it.

"Not that we're having.. It." Chad might have even read Gabriella's mind with that one. "and it's not that I'm…. impatient, but she doesn't feel ready. Which would be fine, except she always almost makes me think she's gonna do it. Then she leaves me all… prepared and doesn't follow through. It just gets to me. I don't know what she wants from me - because she doesn't know what she wants herself. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah." Gabriella nodded. "That must be hard. It's a bit mean to lead you on."

Silence followed. They could both feel the tension in the air. The sexual tension. Though they never spoke; both were thinking the same thing - if anything happened right now, it would seem like a direct result of the prior conversation. And neither wanted that. Gabriella didn't want to look like she was taking advantage. Chad didn't want it to look like he was desperate for sex.

"So, um…" Gabriella decided to change the subject. "Has Troy ever had a stable girlfriend? I would hazard a guess at…no?"

Chad laughed.

"Not since 6th grade."

"Oh, okay, I see."

"He's not been bothering you has he? Or… saying things?"

"I just find him creepy."

"He can be an asshole sometimes."

Gabriella laughed. She didn't like talking about Troy - she didn't like him but he was Chad's best friend. She felt guilty saying bad things. He must have some good in him, she thought, for Chad to like him so much.

--

At school the next day, Chad avoided Sharpay. He didn't want to have any conversation that was inevitably going to happen at some point. He knew he couldn't avoid her forever, but…

Sharpay turned the corner and saw Chad frowning into his locker. She hesitantly approached him.

"Hey." She said quietly. "How's it going?"

"Good." Chad didn't look away from the inside of his locker. He had absolutely no clue what to say to Sharpay.

"Um… we should talk." Sharpay uttered the words that made Chad cringe. He finally turned and looked at her.

"I guess we should."

"Chad… I don't mean to lead you on. But I get caught up in the heat of the moment…"

"I know, Shar. But it's just… draining. Maybe we should…."

Sharpay looked up into his eyes.

"Take a break?"

"Maybe it would be best."

Sharpay smiled slightly and nodded. She looked at the ground and walked off towards her first class.

--

"Hey Gab." Chad had made his way to class via Gabriella's locker, quite possibly the longest route he could have cared to taken.

"Hey Chad. How's everything?"

"I just had a talk with Shar."

"Oh." Gabriella nodded. "How did that go?"

"We decided to take a break."

"Oh…" Gabriella tried not to sound as pleased as she felt.

"It's fine… I think it was coming for a while, really."

--

That weekend, Chad was at a loss. He had no girlfriend to hang out with. He wanted to see Gabriella but he didn't want to go round to hers. He didn't want her to think he was trying to replace Sharpay. He picked up his phone and made a few calls.

"You wanna hang out?"

--

By 4pm that Saturday, there was around ten wildcats sat in a big, round booth at the diner. There was Chad, Troy, Ryan, Gabriella, Taylor, Kelsi, Zeke, Jason, Martha and Sharpay. Chad wasn't happy that someone had invited Sharpay. But he reasoned that she was part of the gang so it was fair enough.

Chad was sat at one end with Gabriella. Sharpay was sat towards the other side next to Troy. On the other side of Gabriella was Taylor, who was giggling at something Gabriella was whispering in her ear. Chad felt uneasy as he looked around and saw Taylor looking at him.

"Here, you guys." Ryan grinned, as he put down 3 plates of fries on the table and a pitcher of pepsi. Kelsi was close behind with onion rings and some mini burgers.

"How good of you." Troy said as he grabbed a handful of fries. Chad rolled his eyes and smiled at Gabriella.

He couldn't help looking at Sharpay for a little while, though. Much to his vague annoyance, she didn't look very down. She was laughing and joking with Troy, which annoyed him even more. He tried to put her at the back of his mind.

"Hey, Gab," he smiled to the brunette sitting beside him. "Shall we go and choose some songs on the jukebox?"

"Sure."

Twenty minutes later, the two of them hadn't returned.

"Hey," Taylor said, confused. "Where are Chad and Gabriella?"

"Oh yeah!" Ryan nodded. "They never came back after choosing a song." He leaned round the corner to look at the jukebox. "They aren't there."

"Looks like Chad's getting lucky!" Troy jeered, with Zeke laughing and making other man noises. Taylor looked at Sharpay. She looked less than impressed.

"Shut up, you guys." Taylor demanded, and Troy and Zeke obeyed. Troy let out a snort of laughter, making Zeke spit pepsi all over the table.

"You guys are so gross." Sharpay stormed away from the table heading towards the bathroom.

"You guys." Taylor sighed. "Do you have no respect for Sharpay's feelings?"

The guys didn't want to reply with no, but it was the truth. They were teenage boys. They had no respect or sympathy, it was in their blood.

About five minutes later, Taylor had convinced the boys to behave a bit more sensibly. Sharpay came strutting back to the table, and put herself down next to Troy. She linked her arm in his, and wiggled herself close to his body.

--

"Sorry Chad." Gabriella whimpered from inside her bathroom.

"It's okay Gabs. How do you feel?" Chad called through the door.

"Really bad. In fact…"

Gabriella was cut off by an influx of vomit entering her mouth, and falling into the toilet. Chad screwed up his face in both disgust and sympathy. He heard Gabriella cough and splutter, followed by quiet sobbing.

"Gabs…"

"I hate throwing up."

"Do you feel better? Or is there more coming?"

He got no reply but the sounds coming from inside told him his answer.

--

Troy was a bit confused to why his best friend's girlfriend was cuddling up to him. But he went along with it anyway.

"What flavor shake, Shar?" Ryan asked his sister.

"Me and Troy will have strawberry."

Troy looked at her. He smiled as she looked back. He looked at Zeke and shrugged his shoulders.

"Actually." Sharpay whispered to Troy, placing her forefinger and thumb on the button of his jeans. "Let's get out of here."

Troy just nodded, as she took his hand and walked him out towards his car.

--

Gabriella finally emerged from the bathroom, and smiled at Chad.

"I'm really sorry, Chad." She said, breathing a confusingly minty breeze into his face.

"It's okay, Gab! It can't have been that bad, smells like your vomit is minty fresh!" He grinned at her and she rolled her eyes and giggled.

"Oh, as if I was gonna come out here with vomit breath. I brushed my teeth, Chad."

Chad nodded, still grinning.

"C'mon, you need to lie down and rest."

"I'm okay now."

"But you're still ill. I'll go get you some water."

"Thanks Chad."

Chad returned a few minutes later and placed a glass of water on Gabriella's bedside table.

"Gab, make sure you drink that. Or you'll get dehydrated. But only sips!"

"Thanks Mom."

"Oh hush. Just get some rest."

"Will you stay with me?"

"Of course." Chad smiled and stroked Gabriella's hair.


	10. Gossip and a Gap Year

Hey you guys! For anyone who is interested, I have written a one-shot called Crazed. It's not very good but I'd appreciate a read and a review all the same! X

--

Monday morning, school. The hallways were full of whispering and giggles. And the centre of the gossip? The popular fashion queen, the Wildcat captain, his right-hand man and the beautiful science girl.

Jason had made a comment to Zeke about how Sharpay was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, when her and Troy had left together. A few hours later, everybody was talking about it. And it only got worse when Jason and Zeke also noticed Chad was wearing the same clothes, after leaving with an now-absent Gabriella.

Sharpay was enjoying the rumours about her and Troy. She felt smug, and hoped Chad had heard them. And she hoped he jumped to conclusions.

The truth was, she did nothing with Troy that she hadn't done with Chad. It was barely more than a fumble in his car, then back to his, with the intention of going further completely to spite Chad. But truthfully, she didn't want to. She fell asleep on his couch.

"Someone told me…" Chad heard a random boy say, "Troy and Sharpay were at it within 5 minutes of leaving the diner. And didn't stop until sunrise!"

"That's nothing, did you hear about Chad and Gabriella?" his companion said.

"No!"

"Someone told me… That the cops caught them fucking in the park. Chad ran off and left Gabriella to get arrested. She's still in jail now."

"That's awful, man. He should be ashamed."

Chad laughed and shook his head.

"Chad." someone said as he turned round the corner towards his locker.

Sharpay was stood in front of him. He didn't really know what to say. He wasn't phased by the rumours. But.. Did he believe them? He didn't know what to think. No.. he decided - he didn't think it was true. She wouldn't do that. Especially as the rumour coupling that one about Gabriella, he wasn't prepared to give it any sort of credibility.

"I, uh…." Sharpay stumbled over her words. "I guess Gabriella isn't really in jail."

"No."

Sharpay looked at her feet. Chad opened his mouth to explain that Gabriella was sick in bed. But he closed it again. He didn't want to have to explain himself. Especially not to Sharpay. He walked off.

He knew he was innocent and the truth was much duller than the gossips would have liked. Well, dull relating to why he was still wearing the same clothes.

--

"_Will you stay with me?"_

"_Of course." Chad smiled and stroked Gabriella's hair. _

_Gabriella smiled, as her eyes closed. Chad breathed through his heavy heartbeat. Even looking slightly green, and having heard her just vomit, and knowing she could again at any minute…. Chad still found Gabriella painfully attractive. He tried to be as quiet as possible, but there was no need as contrary to what he assumed, she wasn't asleep. She opened her eyes, surprising Chad, who was staring down at her._

"_Chad." She whispered. "You're amazing. You're just so lovely to me."_

"_Well, I… you're worth it."_

_Gabriella smiled, as a warm rush of happiness ran through her. Suddenly she didn't feel so ill. She gently propped herself up._

"_So, um…" Gabriella smiled at Chad. "Are… you and Sharpay broken up? Like… officially? Or not…?"_

"_Um…" Chad couldn't think up an answer, he couldn't think of anything due to the fast beating of his heart, the quickening of his breath and the excitement rushing through his veins as he considered why she might be asking. "I… guess…"_

_Gabriella wasn't sure if he'd finished his sentence. But she leaned over and placed her lips gently against his. She kept her eyes locked with his momentarily, before his eyes rolled back and his eyelids involuntarily closed. She closed hers too, and placed her right hand on his cheek and gently squeezed it. She eventually broke away from him._

"_Sorry Chad." She blushed. "But either way I can't… I just couldn't resist. Chad I like you so much and I can't keep my feelings in." She looked away as she finished ushering out her feelings. She blushed and Chad let out a slight giggle._

"_You don't have to keep your feelings in, Gab." He leaned in to her and kissed her. She shivered and giggled against his lips._

"_Chad…" She sighed contentedly. She lay back down in bed._

"_I should go." Chad said, standing up._

"_Hey, wait, I thought you were staying?" Gabriella smiled._

"_You just don't seem very sick anymore." Chad raised his eyebrows with a smile._

"_I am, I am. Please Chad, it would really mean a lot to me."_

"_Of course I'll stay. Where should I sleep?!"_

_Gabriella sat up and pointed at a chair in the corner of the room._

"_Unfolds." She simply said. "Duvet and pillows in the closet." She lay down and turned over to go to sleep. Chad unfolded the chair, and walked over to the closet._

_Chad was soon awoken by the sound of Gabriella vomiting in the bathroom. He sat up and waited for her to come in. When she finally did, tears were streaming down her face. _

"_I hate being sick." Gabriella whispered. Chad stood up, and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her against his body and comforted her._

_When he awoke in the morning, Gabriella was awake and looking at him. She was pale, big bags under her eyes and her eyes were slightly bloodshot._

"_Gabs you don't look very well at all."_

"_I'm not going to school."_

"_I don't blame you. I'll come visit you after, okay?"_

_--_

When the day ended, Chad couldn't have been happier. He needed to get away from the gossip and all the eyes looking at him. Besides, he was worried about Gabriella. He jumped in his car and raced to her house.

He approached the house, and glanced into the living room. Gabriella was sat in front of the TV, looking lots better. She was still in pyjamas, but she had her glow and smile back. Chad knocked on the door, and waved when Gabriella looked up.

"Hey!" She smiled as she opened the door. She flung her arms around his neck. She looked him in the eyes, and hesitated. Chad knew what she wanted to do. So he planted his lips on hers.

"You look so much better."

"I feel it! Come in."

Chad stepped into the house. He followed Gabriella towards the living room. Gabriella's mom came out the kitchen and smiled.

"Hi!" She said brightly, still smiling.

"Hi, Mrs Montez. How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?"

"Good!"

Gabriella shifted nervously. She grabbed Chad by the wrist and pulled him into the living room. She poked her head back out to her mom.

"Mom, is it okay if Chad stays for dinner?"

"Of course, honey!"

When Gabriella came back into the living room, Chad was looking at his phone, frowning. He sighed, and hesitantly started typing into it.

"You okay?"

"Um…." Chad started. "Give me a few minutes…"

Gabriella nodded, and looked at the TV, not concentrating at all.

Chad stopped typing, and pressed "Save". He re-read the text he'd received, trying to decide exactly what to reply with.

"_Chad." _It read, headed with "Sender: Sharpay". _"By 'break', does this mean break UP or is it like when you're on lunch break at school, where even though you're not learning, you can't go home…"_

This was a big moment for him. He knew, in theory, it was an easy decision. Break up with Sharpay and be with Gabriella. But Sharpay had been such a big part of his life for a long time. And he did love her.

But… he knew his interests were wandering and judging from this text, so were hers.

"_Shar… I think it's like after high school when you take a gap year. You go you own way from learning and grow as a person. And you see where life takes you, and that may or may not be back to education. Does that sound right to you? Ily Shar. C.x"_

Chad had tears in his eyes as he pressed send. Gabriella, who was still looking at Chad, frowned.

"Are you okay, Chad?"

Chad said nothing, but showed her the text Sharpay had sent.

"Wow. What did you say?"

Chad showed her the reply.

"That must've been tough."

Chad sniffed. Gabriella hesitantly put her arm around his shoulder. He responded and cuddled up to her, putting his head on her shoulder.

"It's for the best." He whispered in her ear. "anyway… It definitely wasn't fair on her… the way I feel for you."

Gabriella pulled away from Chad and looked into his eyes. She saw no real sadness. She understood he was regretful that their relationship had come to this, but it was all for the best. And that it was inevitable.

Chad smiled at Gabriella, grateful for the comfort and understanding. He pecked her gently on the lips. Almost immediately he leaned back in for a longer kiss. Gabriella felt his tongue brush her lip, and she opened her mouth slightly. The kiss got more heated, and as their tongues were dancing together in perfect harmony, Chad's phone buzzed. He paused to read the text.

"_You're right. Problem I have with school is that I work well in class but when it comes to exams I freeze up. Ily2 Chad. Maybe if I end up going to college I can ace my exams.x"_

Gabriella played with her hair as Chad smiled.

"I think this is a new chapter in my life, starting today." Chad smiled. "Better make it interesting."

"Gotta keep 'em reading." Gabriella said, with a naughty grin.

"I. um…" Chad grinned naughtily back. "Think I left something in your room last night."

"We'd better go find it then."

The two ran up the stairs, hand in hand, giggling.


	11. A Natural Progression

Gabriella shut the door behind Chad and locked it. Chad had walked to about 3 metres away, stood at the end of Gabriella's bed. He was grinning at her. She grinned back.

She ran at him and jumped on him, contacting her lips with his. As they both fell back onto Gabriella's bed, Chad held her by the hips. Her knees were hugging his own hips. As she caressed his lips, she ran her hands down his chest, sighing as she felt how toned it was. She reached the bottom hem of his shirt, and sat up, pulling Chad up with her only by her kiss. She pulled his shirt up, and momentarily broke the kiss to pull it over his head. She met his lips once again as she threw his shirt across the room.

Chad looked into her eyes. His hands were under her pyjama top, stroking her silky back. He wasn't too sure where this was leading. On the one hand, she knew about Sharpay leading him on and how it got to him, and he hoped she wasn't as cruel as to do it too. But on the other hand, he didn't want her to think she was obliged to do anything.

Still, glancing at his shirt on her floor, he lifted his hands and pulled her pyjama top over her head. He smiled as he looked down at her black lacy bra.

Gabriella's hands ran down his chest. She opened her eyes and looked at him as she reached the button of his jeans. She undid the button and unzipped his jeans. Chad pulled away from the kiss.

"You, uh…" He stuttered out in a whisper. "I mean.. are we gonna…."

"Yeah." She smiled. "Well, only if you want."

"Yeah." He stated, with no doubt. "Are you sure you wanna?"

Gabriella nodded at him.

--

Gabriella was stood at her locker, rooting around and sorting out her books. She suddenly felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist.

"Hey Gab." Chad's voice flowed through her veins.

"Chad!" Gabriella whispered nervously. "What if someone sees?"

"So what if they do?"

"Well…" Gabriella turned round to face him. "I dunno. I mean you only really broke up with Sharpay yesterday."

"I don't care what she, or anybody else, thinks about it. No one else matters, Gab."

"I guess you're right." She grinned and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.

And at that very moment, Sharpay turned the corner. She stopped dead in her tracks, and watched Gabriella peck him on the lips. She saw Troy turn round the corner at the opposite end of the hallway, and greet Chad, who took him aside for a quick word.

A minute later, Troy spotted her and approached her.

"Hey, Shar." He said quietly, standing alarmingly close to her.

"What's going on with them two?" She enquired, trying to make it sound like she didn't care.

"Dunno. I thought you two ended last night anyway."

"Yeah, well…" Sharpay started. She looked at Chad and Gabriella, and grabbed Troy's face, and kissed him.

--

Chad sat down in English class, and a couple of minutes later, Troy joined him, sitting next to him.

"Troy." He said, flatly.

"Hey man." Troy cheerfully said, unaware that Chad was glaring at him.

Troy opened his English book and stared at the page for a few seconds before turning to look at Chad.

"Woah, what's up, man?!"

"Dude, me and Sharpay broke up last night. And already you're jumping in my grave?!"

"What's the problem man, we both saw you kissing Gabriella. Aren't you being a bit hypocritical?"

"It's different and you know it. You're my best friend." Chad threw his arms up and huffed.

Troy slowly looked away from Chad and stared back to his book.

"Anyway…" Chad said, sounding slightly calmer. "She won't have sex with you."

"Maybe that's not the only thing on my mind, Chad."

"Yeah, maybe." Chad snorted and looked down at his own English book.

--

As Gabriella left class and made her way to her locker to meet Chad for lunch, she was stopped by a sharp tap on her shoulder.

She turned round to see Sharpay standing there. Gabriella's mind immediately told her to flee, but her feet weren't getting the message. She looked down to the ground and said nothing.

"Gabriella…" Sharpay said in a sharp, angry voice. Gabriella was waiting for the rest of the sentence, but Sharpay was having difficulty finding words.

Sharpay was frustrated. She didn't quite know what to say to Gabriella, she instinctively wanted to intimidate her but she didn't really know why. Yes, she loved Chad, and it hurt that he'd found someone so quickly. And part of her knew that Chad meeting Gabriella must have played some part in their split… but she wasn't angry at this. She felt bad for leading Chad on, and she welcomed the split.

So, she concluded she wasn't angry with Gabriella. However, she couldn't help but think Gabriella would probably be able to give Chad what she herself had never been able to give him - and little did she know, Gabriella had already given it to him.

The thought of it hurt her. The thought of someone else being intimate with her Chad… it really hit a nerve.

"Don't hurt him." Sharpay whispered, reduced to a sad, almost teary, quiet girl. She slumped off. Gabriella let out a sigh of relief, with just a hint of confusion.

--

"Hey Chad!" Taylor smiled as she walked past Chad, standing at Gabriella's locker.

"Hey!" Chad shook his head, snapping himself out of a daydream, and smiled.

"I heard about you and Sharpay. I know she's trying not to show it but.. She is upset."

"I'm upset too. But it was necessarily."

"Wasn't it a bit early to move on though?"

Chad looked up at Taylor. He could tell she was just concerned for Sharpay, but he didn't want to have to explain himself to her. He was sure, anyway, he'd be getting this type of thing a lot.

"I think it was a natural progression in mine and Gabriella's friendship. I wasn't prepared to hide it, either."

"Okay." Taylor walked off, just as Gabriella approached.

"I have a feeling I'm gonna get a lot of grief." Chad groaned and threw himself back onto the lockers.

"Screw them." Gabriella said, putting in the combination for her locker. "Sharpay approached me…"

"Oh?"

"I think she was about to let rip. But then she just told me not to hurt you and walked off."

Chad took Gabriella's hands and squeezed them.

"It's all a bit of a mess right now, isn't it."

"Yeah. Just 3 weeks until summer though, Chad."

"Oh, yeah! That's just what we need." Chad smiled.

--

Sharpay sat at home, sulking. She knew it was stupid, but she couldn't help being upset that Chad had moved on so quickly. Sure, she had a little thing with Troy at the moment, but that didn't really mean anything to her. And she could tell that Gabriella meant something to Chad.

A tear or two fell down her cheek, and she got up and wiped her face.

She grabbed her car keys and ran downstairs.

--

Troy answered the door to Sharpay, who was standing, fidgetting, on his doorstep.

"Oh, hey cutie." Troy winked. Sharpay didn't react.

"Can I come in?"

"Of course." Troy stood to the side and Sharpay entered.

"Are your parents in?" Sharpay asked as she started her way up the stairs, signalling Troy to follow.

"No, they're out to dinner. Why?"

"No reason." Sharpay smirked as she opened Troy's bedroom door and beckoned him inside.

Troy went inside and sat on his bed.

"I was just so lonely… at home, all alone…"

"Where are your family?"

"Not that kind of lonely, Troy." She rolled her eyes and giggled. "I was craving the company of a big, strong man who knows how to take care of a woman."

Sharpay stood in front of Troy, and ran a hand through his mop of brown hair. He stayed silent, just looking up at the grinning blonde.

She gently pushed on his shoulders, and he let himself fall back onto the bed. She climbed onto the bed, and straddled him. She leaned down and placed her lips on his.

"I want you, Troy." She whispered in his ear.


	12. The Rebound

Hey guys! If you read this story on a regular basis, and enjoy it, please leave me a review, because I feel like only a few people read it! (love you guys though.) any comments welcome. Please have a look at some of my other stories too. In the meantime - enjoy chapter 12!! The most graphic one yet, at the beginning anyway, it took me ages to write because I'm not used to writing this kind of scene in detail! x

--

Sharpay felt dizzy as Troy kissed her and moved his body towards hers. She was nervous - she was about to lose her virginity. But she was sick of being hung up on not having sex and, frankly, if she wasn't gonna lose it to Chad, she didn't care who she lost it to.

She took a deep breath as Troy entered her body. She gasped, and winced a little as she felt the pain of his thrusts. She put the pain out of her head, and fell into the pleasure.

"Troy…" She moaned.

Troy knew this was Sharpay's first time. Well, he knew she was a virgin when she was with Chad, he assumed she still was, but how was he to know she hadn't gone out on the rebound? He guessed that's what this was all about, anyway. But he didn't care. Sharpay was hot, and any man would be crazy to turn that down.

He gripped her hips tightly as he thrust into her. If she was nervous, he thought to himself, it didn't show. He groaned with pleasure as Sharpay ran her hands down his chest, and met his thrusts with her own.

He tried to be gentle, seeing as this may have been her first time. But as the tension built inside of him, he couldn't help but quicken his pace, and empower his thrusts with more energy. As he felt himself reaching the brink of explosion, he held on for Sharpay.

Sharpay clenched her eyes shut, as she desperately tried to block out the pain. It was just about bearable, as it mixed with the incredible pleasure Troy was providing to her. As Troy quickened his pace, she whimpered with pleasure, and as she felt the tension rise inside of her, she succumbed to her feelings and prepared herself for the release.

Troy breathed out a loud moan, not being able to hold on anymore. He released everything built up inside of him, with one last thrust into Sharpay. Sharpay shortly followed him, letting go and letting her body quiver, from head to toe, and she tried to catch her breath whilst recovering from the incredible release.

The two lay on Troy's bed together, both barely able to move.

"Wow, Troy." Sharpay giggled.

"Wow yourself."

--

Chad kissed Gabriella softly, and wrapped his fingers around hers. He leaned against the wall of Gabriella's bedroom, and glanced at the TV from where they were sitting on the floor next to her bed. He looked back to Gabriella.

"I'm happy how things have turned out." Gabriella stated to Chad. Chad nodded in agreement.

"Me too. But I have to tell you something."

"What?" Gabriella's heart almost stopped with the momentary fear of what it could be.

Chad handed her a piece of folded paper. She unfolded it and screwed her face up with a kind of surprised delight.

"Chad! This is great!" She held up the chemistry paper with a big red "A" on it.

"This means no more tutoring sessions."

"Oh." Gabriella raised her eyebrows. "Whatever will we do with our time together now?!"

"What have I got myself into with you, huh?" Chad laughed and shook his head.

Gabriella giggled, and squeezed his hand.

"Chad?" She said quietly, with a more serious tone.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Sharpay will be okay?" Gabriella bit her lip and glanced from Chad to the floor.

"Aw, Gabs… I think she'll be fine. If there's one thing I know about her, it's that she's strong. She won't let herself be affected by this."

"So she's not gonna come after me with an axe?"

"No." Chad giggled. "If she was gonna kill you, she'd have done it already."

Gabriella didn't look completely convinced, but nodded anyway.

"She'll be handling it, don't worry!"

--

Chad was stood at his locker, frowning. He could see Sharpay at the end of the hall, flirting with the captain of the football team.

He wasn't jealous. He just felt a little protective of her, that's all. He was wondering slightly why she was flirting with him, but then again, as he said, she's dealing with it, if this is her way, then so be it.

He was soon distracted by Troy coming up from behind him.

"Hey man." Troy said, casually.

"Hey Troy." Chad smiled at his best friend and patted him on the back. "Listen, I'm sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have blown up at you."

"Dude, it's forgotten. And you were right, I was wrong to go anywhere near Sharpay. I'm sorry."

Chad smiled, and the two friends hugged.

--

"Can I tell you a secret, Taylor?"

"Sure, Shar, you can tell me anything."

"I slept with Troy last night."

"What?!" Taylor exclaimed in a whisper. "Sharpay!"

"Please, don't."

"What about Chad? Are you trying to hurt him? 'Cos you know that will cut right through him."

"No, that wasn't my intention! Anyway, me and Troy agreed that for everybody's sake, it would be best if nothing else happened."

"I'll say. I can't believe it." Taylor shook her head.

"Please don't tell anyone, Tay."

"Of course I won't! But I can't believe you… did that."

"When you say 'that', do you mean had sex, or Troy?"

The girls both giggled.

"Sex! After all that with Chad. But there's definitely worse people to get with than Troy!"

"Well, I'm gonna take full advantage of being single."

--

Two weeks later, Chad was just leaving school for the day, when he walked past a group of guys, who didn't notice him.

"Dude, she used to be all virginal. Now she's putting it about like it's public property." one guy commented.

Chad paused, and leaned up against a wall, listening in.

"It's true man, I've had her too." a second said.

"She's hot, man." a third of the 5 or so guys said.

"She's an animal in bed." The first guy piped up. "Chad doesn't know what he was missing all that time."

Chad winced at the mention of his name - so it was true - his suspicions were confirmed - the guys were talking about Sharpay. He'd heard the odd comment on her becoming some sort of slut, but he didn't for one second believe it. Until now.

He slumped off in the opposite direction, as not to be seen by the guys. How depressing, he thought, that she had turned into that sort of girl. And it was all his fault. He felt awful.


	13. Secrets Exposed

Chad awoke the next morning feeling groggy. As he gained consciousness, his heart jumped and sank when he remembered the revelation he'd heard the day before.

When Sharpay was his girlfriend, she respected her body and herself enough to not throw something as sacred as her virginity away. She wanted to wait until she felt completely ready.

But now, it seemed that she was putting it about like there was no tomorrow. How could she go from respecting herself completely to not respecting herself one little bit?! He felt awful that, because of him, she'd thrown away her virginity.

He stopped and wondered. Sure, it seemed like she'd slept with a good few guys by now. But… who did she lose her virginity to?

--

"Hey man." Chad said, approaching Troy at his locker.

"Hey Chad!"

"Listen…" Chad said, coming closer to Troy. "Have you heard about Sharpay? Apparently she's sleeping around a bit."

"No…" Troy said, alarmed, but trying to sound casual. "I had no idea."

"I feel terrible, man. This is all my fault."

"Of course it isn't."

"You know what the worst thing is?" Chad said to Troy. "She threw her virginity away on someone she doesn't care about."

Troy looked down at his feet.

"And I'll tell you one thing, Troy. I'm gonna find out who she lost it to."

"Chad, c'mon." Troy said, keeping his worry inside. "What's that gonna achieve?"

"I…" Chad shook his head. "I just wanna know."

--

Chad decided it was best not to tell Gabriella about his latest mission. Well, that was a bit of a no-brainer. He felt almost like he was deceiving her… but he HAD to know.

"Chad?" Gabriella asked, jogging Chad out of his thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Chad shook his head. "Sorry Gab. I'm fine." He turned to Gabriella and smiled.

She linked her arm in his and snuggled into his shoulder. The two of them were at a movie. Chad, however, couldn't get this whole Sharpay matter off of his mind.

All he could think was how he was going to find out. He could always just ask her. But then she'd know he cared, and his pride wasn't really willing to let that happen.

--

Meanwhile, Troy's mind was racing. He didn't even know if he was Sharpay's first or not. If he was, and Chad found out, he'd go absolutely nuts.

Troy cursed himself for doing it in the first place. He knew he shouldn't have slept with Sharpay and now he was facing the consequences. He picked up his car keys and made his way towards the door - he had to see Sharpay.

--

"Hello?"

"Sharpay, are you home?"

"Yeah, what's up Troy?"

"We need to talk. I'm on my way over."

Just a few minutes later, Troy was hammering on Sharpay's door.

"It's for me, Mom!" Troy heard Sharpay shout from inside the house. The door opened. "Hi Troy."

Before Troy could ask if he could come in, Sharpay stepped outside and shut the door behind her.

"Sorry, Troy. It's kinda crazy in there right now. So what's up?"

"Um, Shar… This is a bit of an awkward question…" Troy coughed and fidgeted.

"Go on", a frowning Sharpay instructed.

"You know when we… you know…"

"Had sex, yeah."

"Yeah. Um… Well, I know you never did that with Chad and I was wondering… Was with me your… first time?"

Sharpay looked at the ground and kicked a few pieces of gravel on her driveway.

"Um…" She whispered. "Yeah, Troy. You were."

Troy screwed his face up in despair and put his hands on his face.

"What?!" Sharpay asked loudly, wide-eyed.

"Oh, it's nothing about you, Shar. It's just…" Troy hesitated. He knew Chad wouldn't want him to tell Sharpay, but she was going to be upset if she wasn't provided with an explanation for his reaction.

"What?!" Sharpay repeated.

"It's just… Chad… he found out you've been… having sex…"

"Oh. Well, it's not his business. Does he know about us?!"

"No, no. And you're right, it's not his business. But he's vowed to find out who you lost your virginity to."

"What?! Why?"

"Just says he feels like he needs to know."

"That's so twisted. Well, he's never gonna find out. Right?"

"Right." Troy agreed. "Well… I'd better go."

"Okay. I hope he doesn't find out Troy. Not only because it's none of his business, but for your sake."

"Thanks."

Troy made his way to his car, and climbed in. Sharpay waved to him as he pulled out of the huge driveway. Just as she turned to go back into the house, Ryan came from round the side of the house.

"Hey sis. Is that Troy Bolton's car? Why was he here?"

"Just giving me a heads-up on something. C'mon, let's go inside. I think dinner's nearly ready."

--

The next day at school, Troy felt less worried. Even though he was the very man his best friend was trying to track down, he was confident he wouldn't actually find out. Still, his heart jumped painfully as he saw Chad walking towards him.

"Hey man." Chad said, throwing a basketball at Troy's head. "Good catch."

"Always. How's the man hunt going?" Troy smiled. Yes - he was THAT confident in himself.

"Terrible. I've got no idea how I'm even gonna start searching for this man. Short of coming out and asking Sharpay, I've got zero ideas."

Troy patted his best friend on the shoulder, closed his locker and walked off. Just then, Gabriella approached Chad.

"Hey Chad."

"Oh, hey girl." He leaned down and pecked her on the lips, and took her hands in his.

"How are you, Chad? You've been a bit absent recently."

"I'm good. Absent, I'm always here!"

Gabriella giggled.

"Mentally, Chad. You know, lights are on but nobody's home."

"Oh, right. I guess I'm just stressing with all this pre-summer work they are cramming in."

"Oh, I know, it's insane."

"So… I was gonna ask you out to dinner tonight, but, I should get some work done. But we'll go out Saturday night?"

"Sure. I'm busy tonight anyway, Ryan's gonna start teaching me dance."

"Why?"

"Why?" Gabriella giggled. "It's a fun way to keep fit."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." Chad leaned down and kissed her once again.

"Bye, Chad."

--

"Ryan?" Gabriella called, standing by his locker in the hall they arranged to meet.

"Hey, Gab, sorry I'm late."

"It's cool, Ry."

"Come on. I'll drive you to my house."

About ten minutes later, they pulled into the Evans' driveway, where Troy had been almost 24 hours ago.

"I can't believe you have a dance studio in your house." Gabriella giggled and shook her head, as she climbed out of Ryan's car.

"Yup, what did you expect with Sharpay as my sister?! She demanded it, so she could rehearse at any given moment."

Gabriella tensed up, remembering this was also Sharpay's house. She hoped dearly that she wasn't in. Ryan, seeing Gabriella's expression, took her by the hand, and squeezed it.

"C'mon Gab. It's just over here."

Gabriella smiled, and took a deep breath. She followed Ryan into the dance studio.

--

After the workout, Gabriella lay on the floor exhausted.

"That was awesome, Ry!"

"You were great, Gab."

"Hey, Ry?"

"Yup?"

"Does Sharpay ever say anything about me or Chad?" Gabriella sat up and started biting her nails.

"Um…" Ryan fidgeted in the chair he was sat on. "Well…"

"What?!"

"Okay, I should tell you something."

"Oh, God… what?"

Ryan explained to Gabriella that the day before, he'd overheard Troy and Sharpay talking. He explained about Chad's mission to find out who Sharpay lost her virginity to and that, in fact, it was Troy.

--

Gabriella sat at home, unsure of what to do. She was angry that Chad was so desperate to know about his ex-girlfriend's sex life. But she was also quite annoyed that Troy had betrayed Chad in such a huge way. She just couldn't decide whether she was for or against Chad.

She picked up the phone. She rang Chad, and asked him to come over.

--

"Hey Gabs, what's up?" Chad said, frowning, when she answered the door.

"Come in."

The two walked up to Gabriella's bedroom, and sat on her bed.

"Chad…" Gabriella sighed, rubbing her head.

"What's up?!"

"I don't know where to start. Okay… I know about your little mission. About Sharpay."

"Oh Gabs. I'm sorry. But you've got to understand I still care about her and just want to know if her first time was with someone she holds special. I hope I've not hurt you… You know how I feel about you."

"Okay." Gabriella sighed. "Okay."

"How did you find out?"

"Let me finish first." Gabriella raised her eyebrows. "I also found out… who it was."

"Really?"

"Brace yourself Chad. It was Troy."


	14. Emotions

Drama much?! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter because I've enjoyed writing it. I'd also like to thank you guys for your lovely reviews!! Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

This story, unfortunately, is coming to an end. After this chapter, there will be one, maybe two more.

--

Chad just stared at the floor. He could barely comprehend what he had just heard.

Troy?! Not only had Troy slept with his ex-girlfriend, he had been her first! He felt a wave of nausea flow over him, and he felt dizzy. He started to see stars, and threw himself back on Gabriella's bed. He clutched his eyes shut and rolled over on to his front.

"Chad, are you okay?" Gabriella sighed, and rubbed his back. Chad just shook his head into her bed, only visible by the shaking of his hair.

Gabriella lay herself on her stomach next to Chad. She put her hand on his hair, pulled some out the way and kissed him on the ear.

"I hope you understand that I had to tell you, Chad. Even though I was a little mad, I knew you had to know."

"Of course. Thank you Gabs." Chad said, lifting his head up slightly and smiling at Gabriella. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

Chad was filled with emotion that he had rarely felt before. He felt betrayed beyond belief. Suddenly he felt a wave of pain flow up through his veins, and into his head. Before he knew what was happening, his eyes were stinging and his vision blurred. He felt a tear fall down his cheek, and he hastily wiped it away. He sniffed and turned away from Gabriella.

"Chad! Don't be embarrassed. Come here."

Chad reluctantly sat up and scooted over to Gabriella, who had just sat up. She put one arm around his shoulder and with the other one, placed her hand on his head and pulled his head to her shoulder. Chad sighed, and buried his face in Gabriella's shoulder, nuzzling in her hair, and let out all his emotion.

Gabriella rocked him gently as he sobbed.

"Let it out, Chad. Let it out."

"I feel like such a pussy." Chad said through his sobs. He let out a small laugh.

"No one has to know, Chad. No one has to know you cried like a little baby."

Chad laughed again, and sat up and wiped his eyes.

--

On Monday morning, Chad and Gabriella walked into school, hand in hand. Chad squeezed Gabriella's hand and sighed.

"You're gonna be okay." Gabriella smiled.

Chad felt like he'd cried out all his upset and all that left was anger. On the one hand, he was glad, he didn't want to get upset in front of Troy. On the other hand, Troy was his best friend and he didn't want his anger to get the better of him. He approached Troy, who was standing with Zeke and some other Wildcats.

"Troy." Chad said, in his meanest voice.

Troy's eyes widened and his breath quickened. He gulped and put on a fake smile. He turned around.

"Hey man." He grinned, casually.

"Do not hey man me. Come here, we need to talk."

Troy obeyed his friend and skulked off towards where an angry Chad was leaning against some lockers, arms folded.

"Troy."

"What's up, man?" Troy apprehensively asked.

"You had sex with my ex-girlfriend. You let me apologise for blowing up at you and you reassured me that nothing was gonna happen. You let me go on about her not being a virgin, and how I wanted to find out who it was to. When all the time, you knew very well it was you! Troy, YOU SUCK!"

Chad stormed off, leaving Troy standing there, not knowing what to do. Gabriella, who was cowering by a nearby doorway, ran after Chad.

Zeke approached Troy, shocked.

"Troy… is all that true?"

"Shut up Zeke." Troy sighed and stormed off in the opposite direction to Chad.

--

Gabriella tried to comfort Chad in the empty classroom they had occupied. Chad wasn't upset as such, but mainly angry.

"Chad, sit down."

"I'm just so angry, Gab." Chad growled, pacing the classroom, fists clenched.

"You need to chill. Will you please sit down."

Chad sighed and sat down next to Gabriella. She kissed him on the cheek and started to massage his shoulders.

"I know you're mad, baby, but you need to calm down. You have class in a few minutes."

Chad sighed, threw his head back and closed his eyes, enjoying Gabriella's hands comforting him.

"You're right. And it's nearly summer. I won't have to see that ass."

Gabriella looked up as she saw someone standing at the door. The face looked inside. The eyes narrowed and the door opened.

"Chad! What the heck do you think you're doing?"

"Sharpay…" Gabriella said, standing up.

"Chad, it's none of your business what I do with my life."

"What, you don't think I have a right to be mad at Troy?! Didn't you very nearly rip into Gabriella? And she's not even your friend."

Sharpay folded her arms and looked at her feet.

"Yeah, but…"

"I'm not angry with you, Shar." Chad sighed. Gabriella shifted awkwardly at the familiarity. "I just wish you hadn't thrown something so important away."

Chad reached out to Gabriella and pulled her close.

"I know." Sharpay whispered. "It was silly. I'm really glad you guys have each other." Sharpay fought back the tears prickling her eyes. She smiled.

"I want you to be happy, Shar."


	15. Ladies' Choice

A short chapter, but it's not the last one. I'll try and make the next one a bumper edition! I love this fic and it's characters, so once it's finished, expect one day to see some extras, some one-shots or maybe even an alternate ending. Who knows!! So make sure you set this to alert cos I'll add it onto the end of the story rather than starting a new one.

Anyway sorry this chapter has taken so long. I had a huge writing block. Get to reviewing my lovely readers!!

A week later, and Chad and Troy still hadn't spoken. Troy was moping around the school while Chad was acting cool, the occasional glare when the two lay eyes on each other.

It was the day before the end of year dance. It was ladies' choice. Gabriella, naturally, had asked Chad and he had gratefully accepted. But he couldn't help but wonder if Sharpay had asked anyone…

By this point, Gabriella had accepted the fact that Chad was still a little pre-occupied with Sharpay. She could see that Chad was just concerned about the girl he cared about for so long. Anyway, she was the one who got him at the end of the day.

--

Gabriella was looking forward to the dance. It was to signify the end of such a dramatic year. By the time school started again in the fall, Chad would be over the whole Sharpay thing and they could all get on with their lives.

Gabriella frowned at herself in the mirror and rearranged some of the curls on her head. She sighed impatiently and glanced at the clock on her wall.

Chad was due to pick her up in ten minutes. She picked up her shoes and purse and walked downstairs.

"Honey, you look beautiful!" Gabriella's Mom smiled.

"Thanks Mom." Gabriella said, looking out the window.

"So… what time is he picking you up?"

Gabriella giggled and sighed, throwing herself down on the couch.

"In ten minutes or so." She shrugged, and looked at her nails.

And a couple of minutes later, Gabriella jumped up as she heard the doorbell.

She opened the door to a stunning Chad, dressed in a black suit with a black shirt, and a white tie.

"Wow." She grinned.

"You took the words out of my mouth." Chad said, taking a breath and looking Gabriella up and down.

--

When they arrived at the dance, there was a good few people there already. Chad spotted Zeke and excused himself from Gabriella to greet his friend.

"Hey Zeke."

"Hey, man." Gab looks hot."

"Thanks, I appreciate your opinion. Listen… have you seen Sharpay yet?"

"Nah." Zeke sniffed and took a swig of punch. "If you wanna know what I think…"

"Well I don't."

"I don't think she's gonna come."

Chad looked at Zeke and frowned. He walked back over to Gabriella.

"Did Zeke come alone?" Gabriella asked Chad.

"Zeke goes everywhere alone, he's a loser."

"That's not very nice." Gabriella giggled.

"Let's dance." Chad grabbed Gabriella's wrist and pulled her onto the dance floor.

Gabriella lay her head on Chad's chest as the two of them moved together to the music. Gabriella nearly tripped up when Chad stopped moving. She looked up to see him staring towards the door. She rolled her eyes towards the direction he was looking.

She saw, stood in the doorway to the gym, Troy and Sharpay, arm in arm.

Gabriella looked back to Chad's face. His eyes were cold and glazed. He gulped, and finally blinked.

"Chad…"

Chad looked down at Gabriella. He gave her a nervous smile and pulled her closer.

"Sorry Gab."

About half an hour later, Chad couldn't keep himself quiet any longer. While Gabriella was in the bathroom, he approached Troy and Sharpay.

"Hey." He said flatly.

"Hey." Sharpay smiled. She looked at Troy, who was looking down at his feet. She nudged him in the ribs.

"Hey Chad."

Chad paused… and walked off.

"Wait."

Chad turned around to see Troy jogging towards him.

"What, Troy?" Chad took an impatient tone. He hadn't decided whether or not he was mad at Troy, but he tried his best to keep the words in his head - 'Shar, I just want you to be happy'.

"I hope you don't think…" Troy looked different than Chad had ever seen him before. He looked small, almost like a child. He looked shy and nervous. "I don't want you to think I'm trying to piss you off on purpose."

Chad folded his arms, defensively.

"Um… well…" Chad struggled for words.

"I just… I wasn't gonna, but, you were already mad at me…"

Sharpay approached the two and put her hand into Troy's.

"And, actually… we're gonna give this a shot." Troy smiled at Sharpay as Chad processed the words.

"What? You mean, like… you two are gonna go out?"

"Yeah." Troy nodded. "But… I mean, only if that's okay with you."

Chad unfolded his arms and looked at them both.

"I wish you guys the best. Honestly. Just…" Chad pointed out his finger and stared hard at Troy. "Don't hurt her."

The two friends laughed, and Chad stepped towards Troy and pulled him into a hug. When Chad pulled away, he saw Gabriella emerge from the bathrooms, and look up towards him.

The look on her face filled Chad with much emotion. He walked over to where she was standing.

"Chad, can't we have just ONE night where it's just us?! One night where I'm not second to Sharpay?!"

"Gab, it's not like…"

"No, Chad! I've put up with it way too long!" Gabriella sighed and walked off.


	16. Summertime

_**Here it is, you guys. The last chapter! As promised, it's a bit longer than the chapters I normally dish out. Well…. Enjoy!!**_

_--_

_Chad held his face in his hands. How could this be happening? Just when he thought everything was right again, something had to go wrong._

_Gabriella had fled into the bathroom, so Chad couldn't go and talk to her. Instead, he sent in Sharpay._

"_Gabriella?" Sharpay sighed as she walked into the bathroom. She was trying very hard to care._

"_Leave me alone, Sharpay."_

"_I think there's been a misunderstanding."_

"_No misunderstanding here. Chad just isn't over you, and I'm just in no place to deal with that right now." Gabriella emerged from a cubicle and leaned against the wall._

"_Gabriella, we were together a long time! Anyway, he just came over to say hey, then ended up making up with Troy. Honestly, he didn't even speak to me!"_

"_Yeah." Gabriella rolled her eyes._

"_Yeah. C'mon, Gabriella, he's crazy about you. He's just my friend now. Don't ruin this night for yourself."_

_Gabriella sighed and folded her arms. She looked up at Sharpay._

"_Maybe you're right."_

"_I am. C'mon. Chad's waiting for you. He's worried."_

_Gabriella sighed and let Sharpay lead her out of the bathrooms._

_Chad ran up to Gabriella as soon as she came into his eyesight. _

"_Gab, honey…"_

_Gabriella put her arms around Chad and pulled him close._

"_All right, everyone's happy again!" Troy said as he approached and put his arm around Sharpay._

_--_

_Gabriella lay her head on Chad's shoulder and closed her eyes. It was the last dance and she intended to make it count._

_She was actually glad that she'd listened to Sharpay and came out. She could have missed all this and ruined it for Chad too._

_She looked up and smiled into Chad's eyes. He smiled back. He leaned forward and gently rubbed his nose against hers. _

"_I've had an amazing time." She whispered into his ear._

"_Well, it's not over." He whispered back. "I've got a little surprise for you."_

_Gabriella pulled an intrigued expression and smiled._

"_C'mon." Chad smiled back. "Let's get out of here."_

_Gabriella slightly nodded and led Chad take her hand and lead her out of the gym. Gabriella waved bye to Taylor as she left, showing her excitement in the smile she threw her._

_Chad led Gabriella out of the building and the two walked down the street. In just over five minutes, they had reached their destination._

_Gabriella was not very surprised to see a hotel in front of her. Hardly out of the ordinary, nevertheless she wasn't disappointed._

_When they got up to the room, Chad found the room card in his pocket._

"_Now, before we go in…" Chad said, hesitating before opening the door. _

_Gabriella put her hands on her hips and shook her head at him._

"_I just wanna say… I know it's a cliché, and a little sleazy… but I just wanted to extend our special evening. I don't want you to see it like I'm taking you here to have sex…"_

_Gabriella laughed._

"_Chad, I know. I know you. Let's go in."_

_Chad blinked, and smiled. He opened the door._

_Gabriella looked in front of her. The lights were dimmed, the bed was showered in rose petals and flickering candles littered every surface. _

_She also noticed the size of the room - no, this wasn't a room, it was a suite. She felt impressed, and also a little special._

"_Chad!"_

"_Shhh." Chad giggled and followed her into the room. He closed the door. _

"_Look at the view!" Gabriella gasped as she ran over to the window. She stood in front of the glass, mesmerised. Chad followed her, and slipped his arms around her waist. He gently kissed her ear and snuggled into her hair._

"_Gab?" He whispered._

"_Mmm?"_

"_I love you."_

_Gabriella froze. She put her hands on Chad's, and moved them from around her. She turned around to face him._

_Chad held his breath, whilst scanning Gabriella's face for any type of reaction. She started blinking frantically and Chad noticed her eyes welling up with tears._

"_Chad!" She squeaked out, hardly audible. She took a deep breath and shook her head. She cleared her throat. "I love you too."_

_--_

_The light streamed in through the window, and disturbed a peaceful Gabriella, sleeping soundly, snuggled against her loving boyfriend._

_Gabriella scrunched up her eyes and flung a hand to her face. She turned over and her eyes fell upon Chad. She smiled to herself, and stroked his face._

_She rolled back over and climbed out of the bed. Yawning and rubbing her face, she made her way to the bathroom._

_Just as she reached the door, a voice made her jump._

"_Where you going?!" Chad giggled._

"_Chad! You made me jump! Just going to the bathroom. Don't you worry, I'll be back in just a second."_

_Chad grinned and stretched out his arms. As promised, before long, Gabriella was back next to him in bed._

"_Come here." Chad pulled her next to him and held her tightly._

"_Why are you awake, anyway?" Gabriella asked Chad._

"_How could I sleep with such a beauty laying so close to me?"_

"_I don't know - You were snoring away for 6 hours beforehand…"_

_Chad tapped Gabriella on the hand. She giggled, and snuggled into him._

"_Chad, I love you."_

"_And I love you. Last night was… amazing."_

"_Amazing isn't the word." Gabriella sighed. "I'm sorry I nearly ruined the dance for us."_

"_Forget about it. Everything worked out. Just in time for summer!"_

"_Wow, summer. Have you, uh, got any plans?"_

"_I plan to see you a lot." Chad grinned. "And keep up basketball. Not that I'd have a choice with that…."_

_Gabriella smiled, and glanced at the window. She could hear the birds singing, greeting the morning as the sun got brighter. She sighed._

"_I don't think I'm gonna get back to sleep in this sunlight."_

"_Close the curtains." Chad yawned._

"_I think I'll go take a bath. You goin' back to sleep?"_

"_Yeah, I'll be grumpy otherwise."_

"_Yeah, go to sleep." Gabriella giggled as she climbed out of bed and grabbed some toiletries that Chad had bought for her. "I'll be out in-" Gabriella spotted Chad, fast asleep. She rolled her eyes._

_--_

_A week later, all the gang had got into the swing of enjoying summer. Chad organised a big get-together at the diner, but Troy suggested they have a picnic instead._

_In the end, they compromised. Troy stopped by the diner on his way to the park to pick up some food._

_There ended up being quite a big turnout, but mainly due to the fact the neighbourhood only had one park. Most of the East High kids were there anyway, and joined in the festivities._

"_Everyone, get in real close, I wanna take a picture!" Troy yelled, ushering the large group together._

"_But Troy!" Sharpay shouted. "You won't be in it!"_

"_I'll take it." Kelsi hastily approached Troy and took the camera out of his hands, pushing him towards the group._

"_You sure Kels? You don't wanna be in the picture?"_

"_Um, no." Kelsi shook her head. She frowned at the camera, hoping she would press the right button._

_She held up Troy's camera, and managed to press the right button, and take the picture._

"_This one's going on Facebook!" Troy shouted, and laughed. He received a response of several different expressions being shot back at him._

_Sharpay felt her cell vibrating in her purse, and took it out. She smiled and flipped it open._

"_Hi Daddy." She smiled. Her smile dropped to a frown as she held the phone to her ear. She approached the group, grabbed Ryan by the collar of his shirt, and dragged him aside. She removed the phone from her ear and hit speakerphone._

"_Daddy!" Sharpay whined. "Ryan's here now. What's this big news?!"_

_Troy glanced over at his girlfriend frowning down at her phone, with her brother. He shrugged it out of his mind, letting a small knowing smile creep across his face. Those Evans twins were always off doing something strange. He turned back to the rest of his friends._

_His eyes fell upon Chad and Gabriella sitting under a tree, hand in hand. He smiled to himself. He was glad this school year had rounded off so well - everybody was happy. Chad looked up and noticed Troy looking over, he threw him a nod and a grin._

_As Troy felt the sun warming his skin, followed by a slight refreshing cool breeze, he almost felt like he could not be happier, and he brought a hand up to his head, and ran his fingers through his hair, noticing that his hair was also being penetrated by the hot sun. Such meaningless thoughts filled his head, and the previous problems that had dominated the last few weeks of his life couldn't have been further from his mind._

_Just then, he heard a scream from somewhere to his left. As he turned his head, he remembered that was where Sharpay was. He frowned, and immediately went over to her._

"_Sharpay?"_

_Sharpay didn't appear to have heard Troy speak. She was staring straight in front of her, not noticing Troy to her right._

_Troy turned to Ryan, looking for an answer. Ryan was leaning against a nearby tree, arms folded, completely unphased by whatever had put Sharpay into such shock. Ryan looked up, realising Troy was staring at him._

"_I, uh…" Ryan shook his head. "She'll tell you." And with that, he walked off in a random direction towards nothing in particular._

_Troy was confused. He sighed, and suddenly realised Sharpay was no longer frozen, and was looking at him sadly._

"_Shar…"_

"_Troy." She said, tears filling her eyes. "My Daddy is making us go to England with him this summer."_

"_What?"_

"_He's making Ryan and me go with him on a business trip. He said we should be back in time for school in the fall but he's not even sure of that. Troy…" Sharpay's words faded into sobs and Troy pulled her against him and tightened his arms around her._

"_What's going on over there?" Chad asked, nudging Gabriella and pointing over to Troy and Sharpay._

"_I hope Sharpay's okay." Gabriella said, glancing in the direction Chad was pointing. _

_Chad started to get to his feet. He glanced at Gabriella, and hesitated._

"_Do you mind… if I go over and see if she's okay?"_

_Gabriella smiled._

"_Of course. Go."_

_--_

_Troy plugged his camera into his computer and waited for them to transfer. He smiled as he saw the thumbnails. He sighed and opened internet explorer, loading up Facebook._

_The photos finished loading and Troy looked through them. _

"_Awesome picture." Said a voice from over his shoulder._

"_Look at Zeke's face." Troy giggled. "You look great though, Shar."_

"_Tag me in it."_

"_I'm gonna tag everyone." Troy nodded._

"_Hey, thanks for letting me stay tonight." Sharpay whispered to Troy._

"_Our last day in the same country, I wanna spend every second with you until you go."_

"_Aww." Sharpay leaned down and kissed Troy. She ruffled his hair and started to tie her hair up, walking over to Troy's bed._

_Troy got up off his chair and walked over to join Sharpay. He sat down on the bed next to her._

"_Can you believe this worked out?" Troy smiled to Sharpay._

"_No! But you've changed so much recently. For the better."_

"_What? In what way?"_

"_Well…" Sharpay tilted her head. "You've matured. You were a big jerk not so long ago, you know."_

"_Oh… well I guess you're right."_

_--_

_A week later, Troy and Chad were playing 1-on-1 over at Troy's house. Gabriella was sat on the grass next to the basketball court, with Troy's Dad standing not too far away, watching proudly at his son and his team-mate. _

_The boys decided to take a break, and they caught bottles of water thrown at them by Gabriella._

"_Good job, guys." Troy's Dad said. _

_The three teenagers sat down on the grass, and Chad put his arm around Gabriella._

"_So, how you doing, Troy?" She asked. "Holding up?"_

"_I'm doing okay." Troy nodded. "Sharpay called me yesterday. Sounds like she's having a good time. I'm sad we've been separated after such a short time together but, you deal with it, you know?"_

_Chad and Gabriella nodded, and looked at each other. They knew they both had the same thought - they were both grateful that they could share their summer together._

_The sun started to set and Gabriella looked out to the New Mexico mountains in the distance. Chad looked at Gabriella's dreamy face - he smiled to himself as he observed her admiration for the scenery._

_He thought back to the days when he would sit in class and stare at her from behind, daydreaming about the things he wanted to do to her. _

_Now not only did he get to do the all the things he wanted, he got to do more. He was in a long-term, loving relationship with an amazing girl who he was madly in love with._

_He snuggled in close to her and rested his head on her shoulder. She spluttered as his hair whacked her in the face._

"_Sorry, honey." He giggled._

"_No worries!" She laughed back. _

_Chad picked his head up, and looked into Gabriella's eyes. He thrust his hand into the curls in Gabriella's hair, and pulled her head towards his. Closing his eyes, he pressed his lips up against hers, and felt those fireworks that he had come to expect, but hadn't quite got used to. He trembled every so slightly against her lips, and he felt her do the same. He opened his eyes, finding her looking back at him. He pulled away ever so slightly, breaking the kiss but so their lips still slightly brushed each other._

"_I love you." He whispered._

"_And… I love you." She whispered back._

"_Guys." Troy sighed. "I'm still here! Jeez!"_

_--_

_**And that's a wrap on Those Little Secrets, my first HSM fic! It feels weird that it's finished, but as I said in the last chapter, if you like this story, put it on your alert list because I may update with the odd one-shot every now and then.**_

_**If you enjoyed this story, please review it. Let me know what you liked, disliked, what you would have done with the story… anything! Anything you have to say, please say it.**_

_**Tell all your friends if you enjoyed this story, and check out my other stories. **_

_**Finally, thank you to each and every one of you who have been reading and especially those who have been reviewing. I love you guys!**_

_**xx**_


	17. Spinning the Bottle A Wildcat Party

Hey! As I promised, here's a one-shot based on Those Little Secrets. This happens to be a short prequel to the story, based on that night when Chad and Sharpay got together. Enjoy and please review! I'll be posting this as a separate one-shot too, as it can be read fine on it's own! X

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

**Eighteen months earlier**

"Chad, man, are you coming to the party tomorrow?"

"Oh, you know it!" Chad patted Troy on the back.

"There's gonna be loads of hot girls there." Troy said, almost looking like he was about to drool.

"Troy, you're sick."

"Maybe we should play spin the bottle." Troy gazed at the ceiling. "Or what's that one where you grope in a closet. Seven minutes in heaven."

"Do you think of anything but your dick?"

"Oh, yeah, I do…" Troy said, looking like he was about to launch into some kind of porn narration.

"Oh, woah, okay, you know what, I'm sorry I asked."

"C'mon dude, we're all teenage boys. I'm sure you wanna get laid, just like the rest of us."

"Don't get me wrong, I love girls. But there's more than life to sex, Troy, especially at our age."

"We're 16!"

"Exactly." Chad rolled his eyes, and started to dribble the basketball that had been held between his hands.

-------

When Chad arrived at the party, it was still early, so it was all quite tame. The cheerleading squad were pretty much all surrounding Troy, all still in their uniforms - at Troy's specific request of course.

He spotted drama queen Sharpay and her twin brother Ryan standing by the punch, looking slightly out of place. Sharpay seemed to be looking around for something to do, or someone to flirt with. She moved away from the punch table and approached a gaggle of Chad's team mates. Chad rolled his eyes, as she swiftly moved away, not really fancying her chances with any of those, especially as Zeke and Jason were having a burping contest. Ha, it was more like she didn't fancy their chances with her. She sighed and approached the football team. She sighed, and surprised Chad by looking directly over at him. She grinned, and strutted towards him, her purple mini-dress moving almost, but not exactly, at the same time.

"Hey Chad!" She said, linking her arm in his. "Having fun?"

"Actually I just got here. Pretty tame for one of Troy's parties."

Sharpay pointed a manicured finger over to where Jack Bolton, Troy's Dad and the Wildcats coach, was standing.

"Hm…" Sharpay mumbled.

"What's up?"

"My shoe is a little loose." She smiled at a confused Chad.

Sharpay pulled her dress up slightly, and lifted her leg up. She propped it on a table next to a shocked Chad, tightened her shoe, and rubbed what was probably an imaginary mark off of it.

Chad, wide eyed, stared at Sharpay's leg. It was perfectly tanned, very long, and very smooth looking. She had the most amazingly toned thighs, and if Chad tried a little, he'd probably be able to see Sharpay's panties.

"That's better." She said, grinning into Chad's eyes.

"Yeah, well… I'm definitely better." Chad smiled at her. "Oh hey, looks like Jack's off to bed."

"I don't get how Troy gets away with these wild parties with his parents upstairs."

"One word. Earplugs. And as long as everyone stays away from his parents' room, they're none the wiser."

----------

Zeke pulled out a bottle of vodka, and poured some generously into the punch.

"Partay!!!!!" Zeke shouted. He went round everybody, pouring the remaining vodka into people's cups of soda and punch. When the bottle was finally empty he stared at it.

"Hey everybody!" He shouted, giggling. "Let's play spin the bottle!"

Troy hastily agreed, nodding at Zeke, and then grinning at Chad, who rolled his eyes.

Jason turned the music down a bit, and the group all sat round, there being 20 or so of them. A good few people sat out.

"Now, here's the rules!" Zeke shouted. "I'll spin first. Whoever I land on… has to kiss me!"

"What if you land on a guy?!" Troy laughed.

"Then he…" Zeke poked a finger into Troy's chest. "Will have to kiss me. It's the rules."

A few more people, mainly guys, got up and left the circle.

"C'mon, guys, it's a bit of fun!" Zeke smiled. "And the person who I kiss, goes next, and so on. First time is a peck, second time a bit of a wetter kiss. Third time, make out for ten seconds, fourth time…" Zeke scratched his head.

"Fourth time, closet for seven minutes!!!" Troy shouted.

"Yeah!" Zeke excitedly shouted.

"Let's get on with it." Chad rolled his eyes.

Zeke spun, and all the guys held their breath, frightened.

"Cassandra!" Troy shouted. Zeke grinned and walked forward on his hands and knees towards Cassandra. He pecked her on the lips and pouted.

"Maybe we should eliminate the first round." Zeke shook his head.

"Shut up, Zeke." Chad said.

Cassandra spun the bottle, landing on Sharpay. The entire male population of the room cheered and whooped. The two girls kissed, and Troy leaned over to Chad.

"This is so hot."

Sharpay spun the bottle, being almost opposite Chad. As she crawled towards the centre to spin the bottle, Chad could see a healthy amount of cleavage, threatening to spill over her dress. He gulped and watched the bottle spin.

He couldn't believe it. The neck of the bottle was pointing straight at him. He looked up as everyone looked at him, all the guys grinning. Sharpay was also grinning, And started to slowly crawl her way towards him. His eyes moved once again to her cleavage. He gulped, and started to crawl towards her.

The peck was over in an instant, and he wondered what the point was. He felt inclined to agree with Zeke, it was a pointless round. He looked over at Sharpay who had made her way back to her spot in the circle, and was staring at him and grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Chad, spin!" Zeke shouted, Chad was starting to think Zeke was a little too over-excited.

Chad crawled back to the centre and spun the bottle. It started to slow near Jason, Chad felt a slight feeling of repulsion, until it finally came to a stop at some tanned legs.

No way - it was Sharpay again. He laughed and watched Sharpay as she excitedly crawled back towards him.

This was more like it. Sharpay wrapped her lips around his, sucking slightly as she clenched the kiss. She quickly ran the tip of her tongue over his lips, withdrew her tongue before anyone saw and broke the kiss. Before she crawled away, Chad put his face in her hair and, his lips being painfully close to her ear, he whispered.

"That's against the rules. You bad girl."

Sharpay started to crawl backwards, with a slightly shocked expression, coupled with a big grin. She then remembered she had to re-spin.

"Wait!" Jason said as she went to spin. "How are we supposed to know who is at what stage!?"

"Got it covered." Taylor said, sat outside of the circle, with a clipboard and pen.

----------------

An hour later, there were a few stage threes, mainly stage ones, some at no stage, and Sharpay and Chad were still at stage two.

Troy spun the bottle. Wide eyed followed, as everybody observed the bottle landing on his best friend, Chad.

"Oh my god!" Troy screamed.

"This is your fault." Chad raised his eyebrows. He raised his eyebrows and crawled towards a very reluctant Troy.

"This is gross." Troy said, as Chad very quickly pecked him on the lips.

"Ugh." Chad said, rubbing his stomach, as he spun again.

"Woah!" Zeke laughed. "We got another stage four!"

Chad looked down, and looked up at Sharpay. It was pointing at her for him for the third time that night.

"Make out for ten seconds." Some voice from Chad's left said. He knew that already. He'd been hoping for it for the past hour. He watched her crawl towards him, yet again.

As Sharpay's lips met his, he felt dizzy. Her tongue emerged, legally this time, and started to dance around Chad's mouth. He tried to remember everything he knew about kissing. Which, admittedly, wasn't very much. All he knew was that this was amazing - but it made him wonder exactly how much experience this beautiful girl had.

Before Chad knew it, the whole circle shouted sixty. That meant he had to stop. He started to pull away, but Sharpay pulled him back for an extra few seconds.

"Hey, woah, hey, give someone else a chance!" Zeke shouted, trying to pull the two apart.

Chad grinned at Sharpay, who had lipstick smudged all over her face. Chad stopped grinning - and ran to the bathroom to check if he had any lipstick on his face.

He sorted his face out, then went into the garden for some cool air. He sat on the patio and ran his hands through his curls. He was a little overwhelmed, he still felt young but situations he was getting into were starting to feel a little more grown up than he could take.

"Hey."

Chad looked up at Sharpay standing over him, smiling. She sat down next to him.

"Hey, Shar."

"Hey, you." Sharpay ran her finger down Chad's cheek. "This is turning out to be a fun night, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"You know, Chad…" Sharpay cooed, placing her hand on Chad's leg. "You're a great kisser."

"You think so, huh? You are not so bad yourself, missy."

"Maybe we should do it more often."

Sharpay leaned over and placed her lips against Chad's. He ran his hands into her hair, and lay it in her curls. Sharpay lowered her torso so that her chest was pressed against Chad's, her hand still on his thigh.

When Sharpay came up for air, Chad was gasping, and he shook his head.

"Sharpay, you are something else."

"I know." she said, raising an eyebrow. "You've seen nothing yet."

----------------------

The next day at school, everyone felt groggy. Everyone except Chad, who was still elated from his encounter with Sharpay.

When he saw her walk into school, he thought she must not be feeling groggy either, she certainly didn't look it. She looked perfect, strutting into school, her brother tagging along next to her.

Chad grinned as Sharpay approached him.

"Hi." Chad giggled as she swanned on past. And carried on going. Ignoring him.

Chad's grin dropped into a frown. He sighed, and took some books out of his locker. He turned around to go to class, but jumped as he came across a vision of perfection standing right behind him. She pushed him against his locker, and pushed her lips against his.

"Sharpay!" Chad said, breaking the kiss. "You're crazy. It's awesome!"

"So when are you gonna take me out, Mr Danforth?!"


End file.
